Mass rapid transit should compliment rail and bus: expert

Chennai:

Buses are backbone of transportation and high quality mass rapid transit should compliment both rail and bus, according to an expert.

Speaking during a panel discussion on Access and Mobility at a Symposium Human Space --- Cultural Space: On Urban Ethics, Shreya Gadepalli, senior programme director of Institute for Transportation and Development Policy said buses are backbone of transportation and one should ensure that bus bay transit is good as 80 per cent of the population in the city will still use buses depite metrorail and monorail. 

Shreya said that Bus Rapid Transit System could be done in Chennai and highlighted the cost effectiveness.

She said solutions exist to make BRT in streets as small as 50 feet. Examples of such systems exist in Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico. She said BRT is about giving priority to mobility, not private motor vehicles.

Shreya said the biggest threat to green spaces and parks in our cities is parking. She suggested the need to restrict parking and charge fee. This will result in less private vehicles and more transit users. The revenue earned from parking could be used for transit investment, she added.