THE Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system of Bangkok will be terminated this coming April, seven years after it was launched.

The City Hall of Bangkok had a close look at the service and has decided to wind it up. The City Hall is also seeking views of Bangkok commuters on the future of the loss-ridden and under-used BRT.

Bangkok’s Deputy Governor Amnoy Nimmano said the BRT was carrying only about 25,000 passengers a day, mainly people who were not its original target group of commuters.

They were mostly students and elderly people who were eligible for discount fares and did not use the skytrain. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) originally figured that the 15.9km route between Sathon and Rajaphruek areas would feed commuters to the BTS elevated railway. This did not happen.

The BRT service was running at an annual loss of about 200m baht to the BMA. The loss was based on the two billion baht investment, which was not covered by collected fares. According to the deputy governor, motorists and motorcyclists started using BRT’s dedicated lanes, which interfered with the service. This slowed down the speed of the buses and, this in turn, made the service unpopular.

The BRT caused traffic congestion because the BRT took up many traffic lanes. On Rama-III Road, the BRT system has taken up entire lanes.

The number of vehicles using the roads far outnumbered the BRT passengers.Concrete dividers demarcating BRT’s dedicated lanes would be removed and the lanes return to normal traffic use. The BRT stations would be dismantled later.

This should be an eye-opener for Karachi’s mass transit department, which seems to opt for the projects blindly.

A glaring example of poor planning is the ramps on Sharae Faisal for the Baloch Colony overpass, which are now being dismantled.

It is mind-boggling to find that the ramps were provided, with traffic signal at the top of ramps, making traffic to stop on a ramp. A slight brake failure on the ramp could lead to a major accident.

F. H. Mughal

Karachi

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2017