<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html;charset=x-user-defined" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> 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 <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.msrdc.org/projects/bandra_worli.htm">http://www.msrdc.org/projects/bandra_worli.htm</a> 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: <blockquote cite="midB1945FADE9F7D41184740002A50738840288FE09@zmumntex1.int.clsa.com" type="cite"> <meta http-equiv="Context-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <title>Urban Transport in Mumbai</title> 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 (<a href="http://doesmumbaimatter.blogspot.com">http://doesmumbaimatter.blogspot.com</a>) </blockquote> </body> </html>