The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) will deploy traffic wardens to guard the dedicated bus lanes at the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) to ensure that no vehicles apart from buses
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) will deploy traffic wardens to guard the dedicated bus lanes at the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) to ensure that no vehicles apart from buses enter these lanes.
“The traffic police had demanded that roads at various junctions of BKC should be improved to avoid traffic jams and it has also demanded that they be provided with traffic wardens, which will help the traffic police ensure there are no enforcement problems when it comes to making the pilot project of dedicated bus lanes at BKC successful,” said a MMRDA official.
According to MMRDA officials, there will be no problems related to enforcement, as there are three authorities involved namely the traffic police, MMRDA and the officials from the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST).
The BEST had carried out a pilot run on the dedicated bus corridor between Worli-Haji Ali, which did not exactly come out as per the undertaking’s expectations.
The project will cost Rs 2 crore for a 7-km dedicated stretch.
The dedicated bus lane is marked partly on the last lane and the shoulder area of the road towards the kerb starting from MTNL Telephone Exchange at Kurla-end till Kalanagar at Bandra (East). This 3.5-km lane on each side will be clearly demarcated by way of collapsible lane dividers and paint.
The pilot project, if successful, would benefit the BEST whose bus passengers are decreasing by the day and it would help the transport body to cut down on fuel expenditures.
However, dedicated lanes are different from the BRTS (Bus Rapid Transit System), which has been successfully put into service in Ahmedabad.
The BRTS is specifically meant for long distances (a minimum of 15 kilometres) and the commute is from end-to-end. The dedicated lane, on the other hand, is for short distances.
