Travellers on an eco-friendly road

The bus rapid transit (BRT) system is often held as an affordable and sustainable public transport option in rapidly urbanising cities of capital-deficit developing countries like India. However, it seems to be going the way of other worthwhile projects that become “holy cows”. We hesitate to evaluate BRT critically for fears of playing into the hands of the Metro lobby.

Key to gridlock

Mixed signals for vehicles, transportation

The tax proposal for vehicles and transportation in the Budget tabled by Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday is a mix of half-measures. A green scan blinks on the good news first—excise hike on personal SUVs from 27 per cent to 30 per cent; higher import duty on high-end imported cars and motorcycles; subsidies for electric vehicles to continue until 2015; and the government to buy 10,000 new buses for cities. In between the lines

Loneliness in the glitzy capital

Blog Intro:  Delhi’s city plan has dehumanised public spaces, inviting violence like the recent gangrape of a 23-year-old girl Delhi’s city plan has dehumanised public spaces, inviting violence like the recent gangrape of a 23-year-old girl As I write this piece, thousands of young men and women are protesting in the country’s capital. I understand their rage. But I cannot empathise with their demand. I cannot support death penalty, even for a brutal crime like rape.

Ponty, buses and PPPs

Liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his brother who were killed in a fratricide incident had another business not widely known. Ponty had recently acquired the concession to run public transport buses in Delhi. His company had won the bids for three clusters with a combined fleet of 600-odd vehicles. Now questions are being asked about who will run the business.

Cleaning lessons from Stockholm

A training programme in Stockholm sounded very appealing. For months I waited on tenterhooks, not sure if the trip would materialise. The wait ended on October 13, when I along with 24 other participants landed in the Swedish capital.  A chill in the air and an intermittent light drizzle welcomed us at Arlanda airport. The first thing I noticed on venturing out of the airport was the fresh air, a sharp contrast to the smoggy air I had left behind in Delhi. A bus deposited us at our hotel in Gardet in a jiffy.

Smog has to be cleared

Losing after winning is the worst feeling possible. This is how I feel looking out of my window at a thick pall of black smog engulfing my city. It was this time of the year, exactly 15 years ago, when Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) began its right-to-clean-air campaign. The air in Delhi was so foul one could hardly breathe. That was a time when air pollution was an unknown curse.

Rapid transit for BRT corridors

Letters - October 31, 2012

Wasted resource

High-speed derailment