[sustran] Re: Urban Transport in Mumbai

[Sunny]

Dear Gupta,

Nice to see ur comments and welcome to this forum. Being also from India 
and currently working in the field of sustainable transport what I feel 
is tht cities in India are not in the need of new infrastructure let it 
be Mumbai or Chennai or Bangalore. We need to streamline our existing 
infrastructure properly and make it efficient. the new infrastructure we 
build for cars is never sufficient. Instead we would want to improve the 
conditions of transit and other kinds of travelling modes like walking 
and biking in the cities.

Coming to the BWSL project, surely it would not be wise to build it and 
partly being and environmentalist i would be against it. There are other 
means of reducing congestion not just building roads and i am sure many 
in this forum would agree with this statement. Building flyovers is like 
an addiction to the conventional planners.

/For people who wonder abt this BWSL project please see 
http://www.msrdc.org/projects/bandra_worli.htm

/Ah..the second one about the skybus, yes it would be a gr8 move to 
improve mass transit options but I am a bit sceptical of projects tht 
tend to put mass transit in places tht people in cars cannot see. I 
believe tht if the same skybus is made like a fast moving bus on the 
road making cars stop and letting the bus would be more effective. 
Taking the bus away from the road will in other words make one/two more 
lanes for the cars. but I agree that my opinion is arguable. At the same 
time there are also other technologies tht are cheaper than the skybus 
but running on the road and have more or less the same efficiency if 
properly planned like the BRT and Train for more capacities.

It does not matter who is the planner let them be from America or from 
India itself but if proper consideration of all the stakeholders is 
taken into account we can surely expect an equitable and sustainable 
transport for our Indian cities.

Carlos mentioned sometime back, with me and even on this forum i guess, 
if the planners go on the streets on foot before they take a decision 
would know the difficulties of the pedestrians and if they try to bike 
they would know wht the cyclists feel and same is for the wheel chairs.

so thts all for now,
Cheers,
Sunny

Anupam Gupta, CLSA wrote:
>
> Hi - I'm new to this group and am mailing for the first time, so do 
> forgive me if I break any protocol.
>
> Eric Britton said
> >>Erp! I would be most eager to have comments on this article from 
> last week's Indian Express. It sends shivers down by back (Wilbur 
> Smith??), but what do I know, eh?
>
> I find it interesting that the Govt chose the very same people who'd 
> advised Bombay in 1962. The implementations of M/S Smith's 
> recommendations are still being carried out. Actually only one to be 
> specific, viz. Bandra Worli Sea Link Project (BWSL). In fact, the BWSL 
> has come under fire from environmentalists as well as architects (like 
> Mr. Chandrashekhar Prabhu - a big critic of this project).
>
> Eric Britton - are your shivers to do with Wilbur Smith or with the 
> idea of a transport study for cities? I'd appreciate your thoughts.
>
> Alan Howes - Given your familiarity with Mumbai I'd also appreciate 
> your thoughts on the BWSL as well as the grand designs that the Govt 
> has for Mumbai's transport problems. In specific - the Metro (is 
> Skybus a cheaper and better technology).
>
> Thanks all.
> Anupam Gupta
> (http://doesmumbaimatter.blogspot.com)
>

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