The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : City planners have a lot to learn from Bogota

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Nov 16, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

City planners have a lot to learn from Bogota

By V. Geetanath

HYDERABAD, NOV.15. While blueprint for the proposed Bus Rapid Transit System under the aegis of the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy, a New York-based non-governmental organisation, is under way, there is apparently more to learn from Bogota experience by urban planners.

Senior municipal administration officials who have visited the Colombian capital to watch the system, are particularly impressed by the way its erstwhile Mayor, Enrique Penalosa, has developed the city and feel the time has come for Third World cities to have a re-look at their own urban development models.

"Bogota has a population equal to Hyderabad with all the related problems like choked traffic, disorganised public transport, slums, water shortages, sewerage problems, schooling, public health and sanitation, etc. The systematic manner by which Mr. Penalosa transformed his city is worth studying," explains N.V.S. Reddy, Additional Director, Traffic & Transportation, Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad.

Alternative models

Mr. Reddy along with a senior IAS official toured Bogota and other South American cities recently to study BRTS and in the process the alternative models of city development pursued there. He is convinced that even while building flyovers, urban planners should think of new approaches to make the capital "for people and not for automobiles" as was done in Bogota.

"With the present growth rate and rising income levels, motor vehicles are bound to increase exponentially putting great pressure on public space, environment, oil import bills and safety," he says.

Hyderabad is a perfect case of roads reaching near saturation point because it has only 6 per cent space for roads, among the least in the country, while the vehicle density was the highest at 2,337 vehicles per km of road length (see graph).

When faced with somewhat similar situation, Mr. Penalosa decided to promote a city model that progressively restricts car use, launched BRTS, built or rebuilt 1,100 parks, improved marginal neighbourhoods, housing for poor, etc. His premise was it would be next to impossible to ape city infrastructure of developed nations considering the Third World's income levels and population growth.

He felt transport policy has to provide efficient mobility for all and not just minimising traffic jams for motor vehicles. During Mr. Penalosa's three-year term, instead of a 17 km metro line, Bogota built 388 km of BRTS; restricted cars during peak hours; improved public spaces along the corridor; built 45-km greenways instead of eight-lane highways; rather than paving streets in slums, a pedestrian avenue was built, green paths along open drains and so on.

For BRTS, lanes were segregated, high capacity buses were introduced and it was a system that cost 1/20th cost of metro rail with the ability to move 45,000 persons in peak hours. This resulted in low noise-air pollution, faster travel time, low crime, and low costs and hence better living standards.

"We cannot replicate Bogota here but we can learn from their experiences to make our own innovations. The State Government too is pretty serious about it," says Mr. Reddy. The BRTS report is expected to be ready next month.

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