[sustran] To unclog Delhi, hop into a streetcar named strategy

[Vinay Baindur]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/newdelhi/to-unclog-delhi-hop-into-a-streetcar-named-strategy/article1-1261386.aspx




To unclog Delhi, hop into a streetcar named strategyAtul Mathur and
Sidhartha Roy
<http://www.hindustantimes.com/Search/search.aspx?q=Atul%20Mathur%20and%20Sidhartha%20Roy&op=auth>,
Hindustan Times  New Delhi, September 08, 2014
First Published: 01:12 IST(8/9/2014) | Last Updated: 14:40 IST(8/9/2014)




'Fighting congestion by widening a road is like loosening your belt to
fight obesity' - US-based traffic engineer Walter Kulash's observation
about Orlando couldn't have been more appropriate for Delhi.

To unclog the streets of Delhi, what we first need is an exhaustive and
specific study to understand what clogs our roads. The city's top experts
believe that instead of incremental and reactive measures such as building
one flyover after another, what Delhi needs is a comprehensive transport
policy.

Hindustan Times has been running a month-long series 'Unclog Delhi' and as
part of the campaign, we invited the top transport and planning experts of
Delhi for a brainstorming session. One issue on which all experts agreed
was the immediate need for a vision document for Delhi's transport planning
and an umbrella body that could coordinate with the multitude of
authorities to come up with an integrated transport plan.

"Delhi doesn’t have a stated, comprehensive transport policy. It only has
an operational plan prepared in 2003," said Nalin Sinha, Director,
Initiative for Transportation and Development Programmes. Sinha said all
transport-related initiatives in the city are taken in an ad hoc manner in
the absence of a stated policy.

AK Jain, former commissioner (planning), Delhi Development Authority, said
that instead of a study of Delhi’s traffic demand management, short-term
measures such as creating more flyovers and roundabouts are taken to deal
with immediate problems.

Sinha emphasised on the need for an umbrella body for transport planning.
"In most cities with successful transport and traffic scenario such as New
York and London, it is the municipality’s responsibility," he said. "In
Delhi, the transport department reports to the government and is
responsible for giving licenses, municipalities do not have time to handle
anything beyond water and sewage, the DTC is autonomous, DDA does only land
planning and PWD only builds roads and flyovers. Everyone passes the buck,"
he said.

The experts also believe that instead of planning just the smooth movement
of cars, transport planning should focus on the mobility of more people in
a faster way. "There is no road designing in Delhi. Most roads have been
designed just for motor vehicles," said AK Bhattacharjee, former director,
Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning & Engineering)
Centre (UTTIPEC).

He said that Delhi’s streets have been designed as highways, which lack all
components to ensure equitable distribution of road space for all,
including pedestrians and cyclists. “Of the Rs. 3,500 crore budget for
transport in Delhi, Rs. 2000 crore goes into building flyovers. What about
other transport and road infrastructure?” he said.

Strengthening Delhi’s public transport system and making it more seamless
could help wean away people from private transport but what is required is
proper last-mile connectivity, something the Delhi Metro sorely needs in
spite of emerging as Delhi’s lifeline.

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“When you have a world-class Metro in Delhi, why can’t you invest in
last-mile connectivity?” said Professor PK Sarkar, head of transport
planning department, School of Planning and Architecture. “Is flyover an
essential requirement or do you have to see greater mobility?” he said.

Dr Sewa Ram, Associate Professor, School of Planning and Architecture, said
that the issue of feeder services for Metro has been completely neglected
when that and auto rickshaws should be a part of a lay-out plan. “There
should be operational integration between different modes of public
transport and fare integration on the principle of defined time, defined
value. There is a need for a common mobility card,” he said.

“Ideally, one should spend two-third of the funds on the main route and
one-third on the feeder service. What is happening is the opposite. People
end up paying more on feeder services and less in Metro,” he said.

“Along Metro lines, traffic has gone up by 2-3% but away from Metro lines,
traffic has seen a 9% growth rate. Mass transport has reduced traffic
growth rate,” said Dr K Ravinder, senior scientist, Central Road Research
Institute.

Jain said that alternative modes of transport can be used to lessen the
pressure on Delhi’s roads. One such way is energising the existing Ring
Railway of the city. He also said that radical innovations, such as using
Delhi’s canals, which measure about 350 km, as waterways can also be looked
into.

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