The decision was taken on Tuesday in the weekly review meeting of the Transport department, attended by Transport minister Arvinder Singh Lovely and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. A senior Transport department official said detailed project reports of two corridors are planned: Moolchand to Jehangirpuri via Lajpat Nagar, and Shastri Park Metro station to Karawal Nagar via Bhajanpura. The government will now extend the Shastri Park-Karawal Nagar corridor to the Games Village, making it about 12 kilometres long.

Delhi Metro is connecting the Games Village as part of the Indraprastha-New Ashok Nagar line, to come up by June 2009.

The government has already hired a private consultant to carry out a feasibility study and project report along the two corridors, planned earlier with the first pilot corridor between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand.

The official said an opinion poll of both bus commuters and car owners will be conducted before the plans are executed. “Consultants will have to conduct opinion surveys at various bus stops and intersections during peak hours,” the official said. The pilot project from Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand ran into trouble last year, facing public ire over encroachment into space meant for cars and the long waiting time (spanning about 7-10 minutes) at traffic intersections along the 5.8-km stretch.

While the design conceptualised by IIT-Delhi’s Transport Research and Injury Prevention Programme (TRIPP) department for the pilot corridor had the dedicated bus lane along the centre of the road, officials said consultants for the new corridors will have to design the position of bus lanes based on surveys conducted on traffic behaviour and movement.