Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has sent a letter to the Delhi government, asking it to scrap a Bus Rapid Transport corridor that runs parallel to one of the proposed metro corridors.

A senior official of the Delhi government said DMRC wanted the BRT corridor, between Karkari Mor and Gokulpuri, scrapped on the grounds that it would compete with their proposed Yamuna Vihar-Mukund Pur (via Mundka) line.

He said that "We have replied to DMRC that a bus corridor cannot compete with a metro corridor. A bus corridor will always complement the rail corridor and provide more options to the commuters.”

The official added that a proper public transport having various modes can be the only solution to control traffic snarls on Delhi’s roads.

Seniors government official explained that "Building flyovers or wider roads can never help in mitigating traffic congestion, but a good public transport system can. Traffic snarls can only come down if people stop using their personal vehicles and opt for public transport, and this can happen only if there is a strong public transport system. No two modes of public transport can compete with each other.”

A DMRC spokesperson confirmed that a letter in this regard was sent. The spokesperson explained that that "In our letter, we had said that the BRT corridor should be scrapped, but we did not mention any reasons for that." He added that the logic behind sending the letter was that construction of a BRT corridor along the metro line would be a wastage of money.

(Sourced from BS)