On foot and pedal

Fuel economy standards: a non-starter

Just when the country was hoping for a final decision on fuel economy standards for passenger cars it has been delayed again. After four years of wrangling the concerned ministries of power and transport are still indecisive as the car industry continues to put pressure for weak standards. The buck has been passed on to the Prime Ministers’ Office for the final go.

Letters - March 31, 2012

Science restricted

Top Gear’s toilet humour

A special edition of BBC automobile show Top Gear, which led to a complaint by the Indian High Commission, was not insulting, the programme has said.

Two technologies that shape our future

A tremor ran through the cutting- edge electric car industry last month. Mathieu Tenenbaum, working with French automaker Renault, was just another faceless name till then. But one espionage story that hit the newsstands made him infamous in a single stroke.

Car Control

Cities all over the world are checking car population to free their road space. Anumita Roychowdhury finds out where India is headed

On two legs and a prayer

The horn, though, would not have helped negotiate a bull that he skirted, but that meant his leg slipped into sludge heaped beside an open manhole. Before long, a bicyclist expectorated betel juice right on to his trouser legs and shoes.

City bus In demand, out of supply

After years of building roads and flyovers, Delhi government has decided to change tack to address congestion on its roads invest in new, sleek buses to restricted private vehicles. Other cities have followed suit. But their dream bus is either not on the market or just too expensive. Orders placed several months ago are overdue. The two major bus makers, Tata and Ashok Leyland, can barely deliver 100 a month till they ramp up production.

No public transport?

On April 21, a small stretch of road in a congested corner of south Delhi, one of the most polluted cities in the world, turned into an epicentre of chaos, confusion and downright indignation.

Olympics 2008, Beijing - raising the bar

With the Olympic Games breathing down Beijing's neck, the city is racing against the clock to ensure it meets one of the commitments it made when it won the bid for the games in 2001 blue skies. As one alights on the Jingshun highway that connects the airport to Beijing, a question comes inevitably to mind will Nini, the flying swallow chosen as one of the five mascots for the 2008 games, prosper in a city gridlocked by incessant waves of traffic--and the smoke it spews?