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 an accident where both the vehicle are at fault, the liability to compensate lies more with the bigger one, an Accident Claims Tribunal has ruled. In case of a collision of a car and motorcycle, both of which had faulted, "blameworthiness" should be made out as per the horse power of vehicle, Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) judge A.S. Jayachandra held.

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 Central Railway (CR) on Thursday launched the 'GO Mumbai' smartcard, a first-of-its-kind travel card which works like a pre-paid telephone card, and can be used for travel on the main line of CR, its Harbour line and BEST buses. "This is a red-letter day. A journey begins with buying a ticket and serpentine queues can be extremely cumbersome for passengers. The 'GO Mumbai' smartcard is one of the steps we have taken to permanently terminate these long queues," said general manager of CR, Sowmya Raghavan, who unveiled the card.

The standing committee of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday passed the proposal to engage Urban Mass Transport Company (UMTC) for preparation of a masterplan for various parking projects in Mumbai. These parking projects are to be developed under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) module and will be carried out on DBOT (Design, Build, Operate and Transfer) basis. The Ministry of Urban Development of the Government of India has a 25 per cent stakeholding in UMTC.

The Delhi Government is hunting desperately for a fig leaf after the BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) fiasco. The Centre has washed its hand of, while the Chief Minister is trying hard to fix responsibility for a system that has left the capital city with massive traffic jams just in its trial run over a 5.2-km stretch, which cost more than Rs 200 crore. Six more corridors are on their way.

The BRT corridor has gone bust. Yes, that's the resounding message from two days of chaotic trials on the Ambedkar Nagar-Moolchand stretch. What else can explain the decision of a panicky government to let in taxis and autos into the corridor dedicated to buses! If the BRT architects are willing to jettison lane segregation, then the corridor

Asks stakeholders to plug loopholes