Rapid urbanisation across India poses a new set of challenge for the country's cities. With few blueprints in place to handle the explosive growth, ad hoc urban planning has dominated. Nowhere is this more apparent than in urban public transport.
Inadequate public systems force millions of daily commuters in cities like Chennai – commercial capital of south India – to inch for room in overcrowded busses and trains. Chennai's busses carry 30% more passengers every day than the international average. More and more affluent commuters abandon the system and take to their own vehicles. Tamil Nadu, Chennai's home state, has seen a 95% increase in car ownership in the past decade. Short-sighted solutions tend to focus on bridges, flyovers and roads to ease congestion. The trend disproportionately impacts the health and safety of the poor who primarily walk or use public transport. A study in Mumbai found that overall, 44% of the city walks to work, though among the poor, that number jumps to 63%. Still, the ever-expanding number of cars has brought major complications beyond traffic jams: extremely poor air quality and a spike in road accidents has put vulnerable communities – those who often live and work on the roadsides – at greatest risk.
The southern coastal city of Chennai is a testament to these unsustainable car-centric choices, but it has set out to right its wrongs. In an unprecedented move, 15 key urban departments came together in 2010 to form a central decision-making body, the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (Cumta), to reroute the city on a path to sustainable, integrated transport. Their goal is ambitious: to focus on cycling, walking and rapid bus transit in an increasingly car-loving country. Full story...
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Inadequate public systems force millions of daily commuters in cities like Chennai – commercial capital of south India – to inch for room in overcrowded busses and trains. Chennai's busses carry 30% more passengers every day than the international average. More and more affluent commuters abandon the system and take to their own vehicles. Tamil Nadu, Chennai's home state, has seen a 95% increase in car ownership in the past decade. Short-sighted solutions tend to focus on bridges, flyovers and roads to ease congestion. The trend disproportionately impacts the health and safety of the poor who primarily walk or use public transport. A study in Mumbai found that overall, 44% of the city walks to work, though among the poor, that number jumps to 63%. Still, the ever-expanding number of cars has brought major complications beyond traffic jams: extremely poor air quality and a spike in road accidents has put vulnerable communities – those who often live and work on the roadsides – at greatest risk.
The southern coastal city of Chennai is a testament to these unsustainable car-centric choices, but it has set out to right its wrongs. In an unprecedented move, 15 key urban departments came together in 2010 to form a central decision-making body, the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (Cumta), to reroute the city on a path to sustainable, integrated transport. Their goal is ambitious: to focus on cycling, walking and rapid bus transit in an increasingly car-loving country. Full story...
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