Delhi BRT update

After a delay of almost two years, the intelligent signalling system (ISS) has become operational on three intersections — at Pushp Vihar, Pushpa Bhawan and Krishi Vihar — on the pilot Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor. The rest of the stretch up to Moolchand will be equipped with the technology by June. This is the capital’s first tryst with intelligent signals. But commuters using the stretch still find themselves getting caught in endless jams. The traffic police say that treating only the brief stretch is not going to help contain the congestion. All the signals connected to the ISS are synchronized with each other, with the signal cycle (green time given to each arm of an intersection) computed automatically by a computerized system. To do this, the system takes inputs from a vehicle-detection system installed at an intersection and assesses traffic volume on each arm of the crossing, according priority to the arm that has the maximum number of vehicles waiting on it. If there are no vehicles on a particular arm, the signal on that side does not turn green as it does with normal signals. That particular side will stay red, and the time saved will be distributed among the other arms. In this way, signal cycles will be shortened and vehicles will be processed faster. But in keeping with the BRT mandate, the signal system has been designed to accord priority to buses. The ISS control room has come up at transport department SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS), which is executing the project. Intelligent signals were proposed as a solution to the traffic jams and long waiting times commuters came up against at intersections on the pilot BRT corridor between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand. When trial runs started on the stretch in April 2008, they were hit by massive traffic snarls, with waiting times at some intersections like Chirag Dilli, Siri Fort and Pushp Vihar even going up to 40 minutes during peak hours. The transport department had then proposed installation of ISS at all intersections on the stretch. But the traffic police are sceptical about the efficacy of installing ISS on only a small stretch. After that, the BRT problem might also be mitigated. The new signals will also help save power since the ISS controllers work with a voltage of 48 volts instead of the regular 230 volts and can increase and decrease the intensity of light emitted from the signals depending on whether it is night or day.