[sustran] Re: Traffic Congestion in Bangalore

Todd Alexander Litman litman at vtpi.org
Thu Mar 20 00:16:14 JST 2008


That is very unfortunate. For a variety of 
reasons, non-motorized transport tends to be 
undercounted and undervalued in conventional 
planning. As you point out, conventional planning 
tends to focus on mobility rather than 
accessibility, and so favors longer-distant and 
higher-speed travel over local, slower travel. 
Most travel surveys significantly undercount 
non-motorized travel, because they ignore short 
trips (those within a Traffic Analysis Zone), 
non-commute trips, travel by children, 
recreational travel, and non-motorized links of 
trips that involve a motorized mode (a 
walk-bus-walk trip is usually coded simply as a 
"bus" trip, the walking links are ignored even if 
they take more time than the motorized link). See 
"Measuring Transportation: Traffic, Mobility and 
Accessibility" (http://www.vtpi.org/measure.pdf ).

It will be important to educate decision-makers 
and the general public of the economic, social 
and environmental benefits of creating a more 
accessible and walkable community ("Economic 
Value of Walkability" 
http://www.vtpi.org/walkability.pdf ). A good 
resource is the "Sustainable Transportation: A 
Sourcebook for Policy-Makers in Developing 
Countries," (<http://www.sutp.org/>www.sutp.org), 
by the Sustainable Urban Transport Project – Asia 
(<http://www.sutp-asia.org/>www.sutp-asia.org) 
and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische 
Zusammenarbeit (<http://www.gtz.de/>www.gtz.de). 
Users are required to register, but there is no 
charge and the documents may be downloaded free. 
Many of these documents are now available in 
various languages including Spanish, French, 
Chinese, Indonesian, Romanian, Thai and 
Vietnamese. "Preserving and Expanding the Role of 
Non-motorized Transport: Sustainable 
Transportation" is available at the Institute for 
Transportation and Development Policy website 
(<http://www.itdp.org/STe/STe4/readSTe4/NMT.PDF>www.itdp.org/STe/STe4/readSTe4/NMT.PDF).


Best wishes,
-Todd Litman

At 10:03 PM 3/18/2008, Sudhir wrote:
>Dear All,
>
>Please find the news regarding the Traffic 
>Congestion in Bangalore on Today's "Times of India"  Edition (link enclosed).
>It is very surprising that no one has mentioned 
>footpaths, cycletracks, NMT etc.
>It is generally reported that people want and 
>desire mobility. Is mobility more important than 
>accessibility in an urban area?
>Bangalore has seen rapid motorisation in recent 
>years (increase from 178 to 361 within a decade) 
>yet 39% of households does not own any vehicle.
>Average salary of a two wheeler owner is only 
>Rs4469. ( it is to be noted that Bangalore has 
>the highest petrol rate at 52Rs/L). Average Trip length is nearly 10.57 km.
>Thus an average two wheeler owner spends 22% of 
>his salary on his Transportation.
>Bangalore has approximately 7 million population 
>yet it has pedestrian trip rate of 0.07 (total 
>daily pedestrian trips of 523597) or in other 
>words thirteen persons contribute single pedestrian trip per day !!!!
>Nearly 30% of households have bicycles but yet 
>contribute only 2% trip modeshare.
>Yesterday's edition carried an article 
>indicating that the authorities are planning 
>elevated inner core ring road at an estimated cost of 700 million Rs. per KM.
>We have done some research on Pedestrian 
>Infrastructure and our estimates indicate that 
>complete pedestrian infrastructure (considering 
>current nil infrastructure) can be improved with 
>an investment of 2000 million Rs, yet no concrete proposals.
>
>Link of Paper
>
>http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JQkcvMjAwOC8wMy8xOSNBcjAwMTAx&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom
>
>
>Regards
>Project Engineer,
>Highways Div.
>SECON Pvt Ltd.
>147, 7B Road, EPIP,
>Whitefield, Bangalore 560066
>Ph: 080-41197778 (413)
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>CAUSES OF TRAFFIC CONGESTION
>
>
>Poor roads No. 1 cause of congestion: TOI survey
>
>
>
>TIMES NEWS NETWORK  - 19 march
>
>
>
>
>    Bangalore's traffic congestion is today the 
> bane of the city, affecting citizens' lives, 
> the growth of its business and contributing 
> substantially to pollution. But why has traffic 
> become what it has? TOI asked citizens that 
> question. And this is what we got: Bad roads is 
> seen as the No. 1 reason for the traffic 
> problems, followed closely by poor traffic 
> management and lack of proper infrastructure 
> like flyovers. Indisciplined drivers were seen 
> as another significant reason for the chaos.
>    The survey was conducted for TOI by global 
> market research agency Synovate. Almost 30% of 
> those surveyed pointed their fingers at bad roads - issues like the width
>of the road, potholes, poorly laid roads and 
>medians, all of which slow down traffic 
>significantly and contribute to traffic pile ups.
>    A quarter of those surveyed blamed poor 
> traffic management, issues like uncoordinated 
> traffic lights, inability to enforce lane or 
> speed discipline, inability to divert traffic 
> on to alternative roads in the event of a pile-up on one road.
>    Another quarter attributed the city's 
> traffic problem to inadequate infrastructure 
> like flyovers and pedestrian underpasses. Many 
> of the city's flyovers are badly designed, and 
> in some cases, the flyover merely contributes 
> to increasing the traffic pileup at a 
> subsequent traffic junction. The outer ring 
> road desperately requires a series of flyovers 
> or underpasses, as Delhi has done, but the 
> government is yet to move on that. The survey 
> also found that the vast majority believes the 
> Metro Rail can be an effective solution to the 
> city's traffic woes. An overwhelming number 
> also believe that steep fines are the answer to 
> ensure people become better road users. Many 
> think better buses and plusher buses can 
> encourage people to move to public transport.
>    Guess what rating those surveyed give the 
> city administration's efforts to improve the 
> traffic and connectivity situation: an average 
> of a mere 3.23 on 10. No surprise!
>    unlock.bangalore at timesgroup.com
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>Regards
>Sudhir
>Project Engineer,
>Highways Div.
>SECON Pvt Ltd.
>147, 7B Road, EPIP,
>Whitefield, Bangalore 560066
>Ph: 080-41197778 (413)
>
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Sincerely,
Todd Alexander Litman
Victoria Transport Policy Institute (www.vtpi.org)
litman at vtpi.org
Phone & Fax 250-360-1560
1250 Rudlin Street, Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, CANADA
“Efficiency - Equity - Clarity”



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