[sustran] Re: India's blind love for cars (The Hindu)

[Sarath Guttikunda]

Dear Cornie and Co.,

To quote Sujit Patwardhan  - *"Most of our newspapers write more often
about the new big flyover built by the city presuming that traffic
congestion will disappear once the flyover is up and running. Actually the
opposite happens and the Hindu should be congratulated for exposing this
myth."
*

 Following the Auto-Expos, we saw a number of articles published on the new
car models, interviews with the likes of  Ratan Tata, and interviews with
the celebrities promoting various brands, but only 1 or 2 talked about the
buses at the show. In the middle of all these articles, this piece stands
out for raising an important issue, though for us, it looks like they are
merely restating the problem.

>From the article - "*generally look upon rapid urbanisation as an
inevitable and desirable consequence of high growth (in itself, a
problematic notion), without saying anything on how urbanisation can deepen
our energy problems. It could have observed that by promoting expressways
and cars, the government and banks are encouraging energy inefficiency, not
just through higher direct consumption of petrol and, worse still, diesel,
but also through needless use of primary energy to make steel, cement and
tar for flyovers, and longer and wider roads*."

This is much better than an article we saw in September, following a
presentation by Joshua Apte (from University of Berkeley) on the exposure
rates for passengers traveling in 3-wheelers. The title for that piece was
"AC Cars May Keep You Fit" (Times of India)
http://urbanemissions.blogspot.com/2011/09/exposure-to-particulate-pollution-in.html

With regards,
Sarath

--
*Dr. Sarath Guttikunda*
Founder and Analyst, UrbanEmissions.Info (New Delhi, India)
Affiliate Associate Research Professor, Desert Research Institute (Reno,
USA)
*Tel +91-9891315946  |  http://www.urbanemissions.info*
*http://www.dri.edu/sarath-guttikunda*



On Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 7:26 AM, Cornie Huizenga <
cornie.huizenga at slocatpartnership.org> wrote:

>
> Thanks for sharing -  Did you see the keywords used by the Hindu.
>
> Keywords: Auto Expo<http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/article2780985.ece?homepage=true#>
> , Cars<http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/article2780985.ece?homepage=true#>
> , urban middle-class<http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/article2780985.ece?homepage=true#>
> , nuclear family<http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/article2780985.ece?homepage=true#>
> , car loans<http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/article2780985.ece?homepage=true#>
> , social mobility<http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/article2780985.ece?homepage=true#>
> , Narrow roads<http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/article2780985.ece?homepage=true#>
> , traffic jam<http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/article2780985.ece?homepage=true#>
>
> Interesting to see the sequence which ends with narrow roads - traffic
> jam.  It appears as if the person doing the key words is somehow caught in
> the same blind love as is being described in the article.
>
> It is interesting to see that the Indian press is coming up with an
> increasing number of opinion pieces questioning the sustainability of the
> current motorization trends in Indian cities. But it seems that the
> emphasis is still very much on (re)stating the problem.  Only towards the
> end a brief outline is given of what is called: "another approach":*there must be policies in place to limit use of cars. Cars should be
> heavily taxed, more so diesel ones. Banks should go easy on car loans as
> part of long-term energy and environment management. Business and central
> districts in a city should ramp up their parking rates, as in places like
> London.And, we should ensure that our cities don't grow too large. The
> ideal city is one where we can cycle from one place to another, like some
> of the prettier European towns. The aesthetics of such an existence would
> outdo that conjured up for us by auto design gurus. By the way, how come
> the cyclist does not figure in our energy and transport planning?*
>
> If we would like to see *another approach *towards motorization in India
> I think that we need to do more than restating the problem. We need to
> present the decision makers with more detailed alternative approaches on
> how India and Indian cities can develop economically and socially without
> sacrificing the city to the car.  Singapore and Shanghai generally are seen
> as two of the more successful cities in terms of economic development
> strategy. Both cities are considered examples of modern urban development.
> Yet, these are the two cities which against the then current thinking 15
> years ago imposed severe restrictions on the growth of private
> motorization.
>
> Generally, the more attractive cities are the ones with a high modal split
> in favor of public transport, walking and cycling.
>
> What it boils down to according to me is a discussion on whether
> government has a duty to provide each citizen with the access to goods and
> services in support of economic and social advancement or whether it needs
> to provide citizens with the required road space to use their own cars. Or,
> can we restrict the freedom of choice when it comes to the way in which
> people move.
>
> I think that it is by now generally accepted that government through
> planning ordinances can restrict the freedom of people to live in nice New
> Delhi bungalow style houses (although that is what the majority of people
> would want) and impose density requirements which result in the building of
> apartment complexes.  Similarly, while 30 years ago rules and regulations
> were in favor of those who wanted to smoke, there is now general acceptance
> that the rights on the non-smokers should prevail over those of the
> smokers.
>
> Environmental and developmental organizations have a joint task to educate
> decision makers on the lack of sustainability of current motorization. They
> also have a joint obligation to explain to decision makers what the
> alternative should be. Part of this is a discussion with  citizens on what
> they can and can not expect as part of the growth and development of their
> cities.
>
> Cornie
>
> --
> Cornie Huizenga
> Joint Convener
> Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport
> Mobile: +86 13901949332
> cornie.huizenga at slocatpartnership.org
> www.slocat.net
>