Delhi Metro takes the load off roads

Delhi could breathe better as a lot of people parked their cars to avoid being caught in traffic jams caused by lane restriction on many Commonwealth Games (CWG) routes. Despite the fact that the city has more than 50 lakh registered vehicles, the roads, barring those where the restrictions have come in place, are free from traffic snarls for the past few days.

The lane reservation might have caused chaos on some roads but it has come as a blessing in disguise for large parts of the city.

Fear of getting stuck in jams has led people using public modes of transport. Delhi Metro registered its highest ridership on Monday, the first day when CWG lane restrictions were implemented on a weekday.

A total of 15.57 lakh people travelled on all the five operational lines of the Delhi Metro, surpassing the earlier record of 14.44 lakh on September 6. The past record of Metro ridership reveals that it has an average of 11- 12 lakh.

“ The Games have done a lot of good things for the city. More than 20 new flyovers have been added to the already existing network of flyovers. After the rain, most of the roads have been repaired within a span of one week. Roads have been widened.

More traffic police officials have been added to the department and all these factors have resulted in smooth movement of vehicles on roads,” said a senior traffic police officer.

Special commissioner ( Traffic) Ajay Chadha thanked Delhiites on Facebook. “ Traffic Police was thankful to all the citizens for their cooperation in implementing the restrictions on Games lanes. Barring a very few exceptions, all citizens are complying with the restrictions. We look forward to their continued support till October 16. This experiment gives us hope that we may be able to start implementing lane discipline in general after the Games,” he wrote.

Echoing similar view a PWD official said that 24 flyovers, grade separators and underpasses have been added to the city.

“ There are many examples. Ring road bypass, flyovers in Geeta Colony area and UP link road have contributed a lot in easing traffic. Travel time between north Delhi and east Delhi has drastically reduced. One can reach a place within 20- 30 minutes while earlier it used to take more than an hour. Similarly, the travel to Noida from the city has become easier due to network of flyovers.

Due to the new Shahadra flyover, drive from Kashmere Gate to Ghaziabad has become smooth,” the official said.

A DMRC spokesperson said that ever since the Central Secretariat- Qutub Minar corridor was integrated with the Qutub Minar- HUDA City Centre ( Gurgaon) line, Delhi Metro ridership has been increasing day by day.

Currently, over 130 train sets are in operation on the five lines of the Metro with a new train being added to the system every 10 to 15 days. Delhi Metro make over 2,300 trips on the five operational lines covering 138 km.