Focus on equity

Moving Forward; Towards Better Urban Transport produced and directed by Zaitun M Kasim and A Rahman Paul Barter 20 minutes Clogged streets, heavy vehicular pollution and inordinate delays in getting to destinations: most of us fret over the state of urban transport. But only a few seem to realise that transportation issues are intrinsically linked to questions of equity. The documentary under review is one of them.

Wheels within wheels

While automobiles in India have moved light years ahead in technology, style and service, traffic in most of our cities remains primitive. Urban transport, on the whole, is polluted, unsafe and expensive. For Mumbai and Delhi, which present a grim picture of bumper-to-bumper congestion, carpooling could be a possible way to reduce overall vehicular use.

Integrate

Jammed!

How is India responding to the crisis? In March 2003, the finance minister of Delhi, delivering his budget speech, promised more money so that the capital could become, as its chief minister has put it, "the flyover city of Asia". Think more road; give vehicles more space: this grand, now globally debunked, style of mobility management is precisely the mantra planners and politicians in India swear by. This in a nation where urbanisation and its resultant heartburns - congestion and pollution - are phenomenal.

The 6-4-2 rule

People seem to be disgusted or even ashamed when they see a bus with fewer than 50 people inside it. Let us recall some basic figures, that I will name 'the 6-4-2 rule': • A standard, 45-seat diesel bus with six passengers is occupying, per person, less public road space than the average automobile with an occupancy of 1.5 people.

Comprehend

Trees voted out

A novel referendum by the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (smc) spelt doom for 122 trees. The civic body asked people to choose between the trees and traffic jams. In the voting, the roads won by a mile.

The riddle of mobility

"I have to have two cars to address my family's needs. To use public transport is an ordeal, and to use the streets as a pedestrian or cyclist is unthinkable. People in automobiles travel freely. Curbsides are filled with parked cars. Road space belongs to vehicles and the city belongs to no one." Which is this city? It is a Brazilian city but perhaps any Indian city could fit the description.

More dreams sans cars

Say 'no' to cars. This is the ultimate verdict from people now fighting hard to reduce the dependency on automobiles. An idea that seemed utopian in the early 1990s is now firing the imagination of many more across the continent. Car-free cities are poised to chase dream cars out from crowded city centres. There are no car-free cities yet.

Hindustan motors

Whereas European cities are making an effort to return to walking and cycling through innovative ways of pedestrianisation and car-restraint policies, the tradition of cycling and walking is being squeezed out of Asian cities. Only Japan and Singapore are making some efforts to revive these practices.