MMRDA plans yet another transit project.

The Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) is a prime commercial and business hub, but for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), it seems, BKC is a laboratory in which it can carry out experiments in moving people around – which often fail. Undeterred by past experiences, the authority has now announced a new transit project, called the Automated Rapid Transit System, or Arts, for BKC.

MMRDA has asked consultants to study the technical and economic feasibility and design of the project, which will connect areas close to Bandra (E) and Kurla (W) railway stations, most of the commercial skyscrapers at BKC, and the upcoming metro and bullet train stations. The study will be conducted within six months, confirmed B Pawar, joint metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA.

Although the plan may seem new, it is not. A decade ago MMRDA had proposed a project involving ‘pod cars’, at a cost of Rs. 1,100 crore. These pod cars, weighing around 90 kilogrammes, would carry five to six passengers at a time, at speeds of up to 25 kilometres an hour. But after studies said the carrying capacity of the vehicles was not satisfactory and that the project would cost a lot more and was financially unviable, the project was quietly dropped.

ET