Any apprehensions about utility of Metro Rail are either ill founded and based on baseless imaginations OR are politically motivated with vested interests. We cannot forget that the same band of politicians who kept on delaying the project for decades raising similar issues, ignoring various technical surveys and expert reports, just because they had direct or indirect links with transport lobbies (blue lines and autos); later jumped to take credit once metro became a reality, and that too claiming credit through expensive ads in newspapers at public expense. High capacity bus system is a silly idea and shear waist of money. What we need is further and rapid extension of metro, including the coverage of inner and outer ring roads. These the govt is earning huge revenues and fund are not a problem. I dont see any reason why work on phase III and beyond cannot and should not be started right away! Perhaps the answer again lies in recent incidents of blue lines regularly crushing innocent lives and still able to carry on...., who owns these buses?
The Delhi Metro which is winning accolades all over costs close to Rs.200 crores per KM compared to a Skybus which is 100% indegenous and costs only Rs.50 crores per km. The metro is unsafe as it has a potential to topple and the wheels can jump the track, When there is a positive solution which is certified by TUV of Germany as safe for public transport, why is the Government not willing to try it...Simple the reason being vested interests rather than the interest of the comon man. Skybus does not require any govt guarantees that means no borrowing of funds from other countries giving Govt guarantees. Today it may sem fantastic but it is fools like us who end up paying all those taxes to fill their pockets. Skybus creates urban space and does not eat into it like Metro. Hey guys why dont we have Mr.Sridharan (DMRC), Mr.Rajaram (skybus) and the guy promoting Monorail on the big fight talk show, it will reveal all the details to people like us and how our Govt has become a remote control to foreign countries.Will they agree to this talk NO WAY cause they have becone suckers of Foreign countries borrowing money which we and our children will pay for the rest of our lives
The author has not talked about how those ridership estimates were made. Was there any travel demand data available?? if yes where did it come from?? I do not remember taking a travel survey ever in delhi.. I feel there should more effort made in collection of Socioeconomic data that drives mode choice and travel demand. A little bit of investment in such efforts can lead to better evaluation of alternatives. What are the SMART people sitting in Delhi University doing in terms of application of their knowledge of Econometrics and Statistics??? OR is their knowledge just for writing exams and ultra-theoretical papers????? As for bus systems, where were these experts who think BRT's are a better option doing before the decision to implement a metro system taken....
The costly mistake is not Delhi metro rail. It is the mistake of not keeping the metro roads clean. There is more mud on sidewalks. This is the cause of dust pollution that will cost tax payers more in the future from health cost and medical
I am really delighted by the design, management, and success of Delhi metro project. Its very easy to destroy a good project .. by a bad story. but good projects require appreciation from everybody. Please think Delhi 5 to 10 years forward. You can not think or start a project when the trafic situation is mess.
One should make infrastructure and then think that city will grow rather than thinking to make infrastructure after city grows. The writer ignores the fact that each city is growing and if metro is running at less capacity now then its quite a good thing that there is space for more.
