Despite jams on the controversial Bus Rapid Transit corridor in the Capital, transport authorities on Sunday claimed that the situation had improved since the trial runs began last Sunday. Transport Commissioner R. K. Verma said: "The traffic flow on Sunday was smooth and improving. We are still working on changing the signal pattern and hopefully a new one should be in place by this week.' Another official added: "None of the signal timings proposed has worked out well, so we have to keep seeing alternatives.'

Delhi need not despair. The expensive traffic mess that goes by the name of the Bus Rapid Transit corridor has also left a similar, unwelcome mark on another city in the country. Inaugurated with great fanfare in December 2006 in Pune, the BRT corridor there has now been categorically slotted as a project with "too many flaws

In a city of six million vehicles, there is nothing unusual about chaos on roads. But lack of proper operational planning adds hardship to thousands of commuters in the capital city of Delhi. During the last four months alone, Delhiites have faced two major plan chaos on city roads.

The bus rapid transit (BRT) system will not be extended on the first corridor till perfection is achieved. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit told this to RITES and officials concerned after a review meeting held at her residence today. RITES is carrying out the construction of the corridor.

Delhi BJP chief Harsh Vardhan has criticised the statement of Sunita Narayan,director,Centre for Science and Enviornment. She had given a clean chit to the BRT corridor and termed it as useful for Delhi. BJP MLA Vijat Jolly has also demanded the scrapping of the corridor project ,saying that it has created traffic snarls in South Delhi. Vardhan said that the way in which thousands of trees have been felled and many lives have been lost, dozen have been injured, the Delhi government should stop the construction of six other corridors.

The chaos prevailing in the Bus Rapid Transit corridor during the trial runs notwithstanding, experts associated with the project maintain that the system takes care of the travelling needs of every type of road user and is safer and easier than the existing traffic management systems. They, however, concede that a few issues remain to be fine-tuned and that there is a need to make people more aware about the system.

Transmilenio. That is the name of a success story told daily by 1.4 million people in Colombia's capital Bogota. These people are the commuters of the bus rapid transit (BRT) system there, which has 850 buses covering 85 km. It has reduced the travel time by 32 per cent, accidents by 90 per cent and gas emissions by 40 per cent.

Claiming an "improvement' in the traffic situation on the 5.6-km Ambedkar Nagar-Moolchand section of the controversial new Bus Rapid Transport corridor following some fine-tuning of the signalling system, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Saturday announced several new measures to reduce the travel time for private vehicles through the corridor. "The measures will show results in about three weeks,' she said, making it clear that for now the corridor is here to stay.

The bus rapid transit (BRT) system may not have found many takers among commuters, but it does have some high profile people batting for it even if the collective public rage against the system may be putting some of its staunchest proponents on the defensive. The Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) has come out in open support of the system while at a discussion organised by the Delhi Study Group, officials urged commuters to show patience.

The nightmare on the corridor shows no signs of going away. A