ravikant

What are the basic steps to improve road conditions and Traffic in India? Now that there is scarcity of time and people have become relentless in the acceptance of the plight of Indian Road Scenario, who can we put out bet on?

ruchi

The only practical and feasible solution that looks apparent is to avoid roads. Rather than repairing the so called “unrepairable” roads and widening "unwidenable" roads, let us forget about them, skirt them by flying over them through choppers. So construct more and more airstrips for point to point transportation by choppers.

hemant

The PM's outburst at the traffic conditions in Bangalore should be taken in the context of the traffic mess in all Indian towns and cities. While we boast about progress in so many domains in our country, the more we lack in our own civic sense and basic laws and rules. Driving licenses can be bought for a penny; individuals who have driving licenses in any case have never undergone proper tests for attaining licenses.

I wonder how many drivers in India truly know traffic rules as is anywhere in the world. Our very own traffic police know nothing about traffic rules or laws. They drive around breaking rules themselves. The media does nothing to educate the masses on any form of traffic laws or rules.

Our roads are just getting messier by the day and nobody is doing a thing about it; nobody cares a damn. Building new roads and flyovers is not the only solution. Ironically we see the best of cars which cannot even be driven to their full potential on Indian roads. They therefore become status symbols only.

Aakash

The car automatically runs, when u have a driving licence in india.. dont u know that...??

A thousand peoples dont even know the proper rules... mounting them is too far. i have changed anyways my policy.. last time i got a accident when i tried to save a bicycle rider in delhi.. this bicycle rider suddenly came on delhi-noida toll bridge.. Man that bycycle rider not even stoped to check, is everything ok.. instead when i reached him.. he said, you earn a driving licence.. its your problem..

next time.. i will just ignore a bycycle rider.. if he came across.. let then agencies answer.. what a cycle is doing on toll road...

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A cigarette reduces your life by 2 min.
A bottle of spirit reduces your life by 4 min
A day at work reduces your life by 8 hours.

tapan

Well, Every weekday over 6,800 scheduled buses carry around six million passengers on over 700 different routes in London. But evidence shows that despite a huge number of buses and an excellent Metro (Underground) rail network, the average traffic speed in London is 6miles per hour. London has had to consider other strategies to overcome the problems of congestion.

Simply increasing the bus numbers and modernizing the Traffic will not solve the problems of India. She needs a three pronged approach –

• Establishing a modern user friendly public transport system based on a rapid transit bus system.
• Municipal authorities taking tough decisions and implementing them
• Indians to change their lifestyles for the better

nagendra

Instead of using automation to its full advantage, we are stuck in medieval times. London buses for example use oyster card (smart card) technology for ticketing. Everyone getting in to the bus needs to have a pre-paid ticket. This means that there is no conductor on the buses anymore (even on double-decked buses). People enter the bus via the automated front door, swipe their smart card on the card reader and get off from the automated back door at their destination.


Unfortunately, motor vehicle act of 1988 does not allow the public transport buses to run without conductors. It is time such irrelevant statutes are amended. Without this optimal use of manpower is not possible and companies end up in the red as the cost of salaries itself becomes a burden.

tarun

Excellent One Nagendra....!!!! Very Good Post...!!!
I have one more to add...

Any modern rapid transit system relying on buses uses dedicated bus lanes to solve the problems of congestion. As public transport is likely to get people to their destination faster, they ditch their cars and start using the buses. Further, car drivers that drive on the bus lanes are heavily fined, making available valuable source of incomes. In London drivers are fined £100 (Rs 8000/-) for such an offence. Bus lanes cameras are in operation all the time for this purpose.

vimal

Smart card – BEST is also there. This is a valuable source of income for most public transport systems. India has failed to introduce them to exploit this to its benefit. Naturally the state of bus stops is such that the advertiser will not feel like advertising on the bus stops. The buses are even worse off in this matter.

ankur

Lot of traffic in Central London buses has simplified their ticketing. Irrespective of the distance, only one ticket is issued. This is useful as people are encouraged to walk small distances (disabled, senior citizens & children go free). Further, as mentioned above with use of smart card technology, tickets are not issued on the buses. The daily, weekly, monthly or annual pass in London allows people to hop in and out of the bus any number of times. Also one smart card is allowed to be shared by family members / friends.

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It's intimidating in so many ways. But there's still nothing like it. And when the road opens out and the throttle opens up, you'll smell burning flesh. It's the memory being branded into your brain.

bedi

This is a complex subject. Yet following facts need to be borne in mind –

It becomes difficult to implement cheaper tickets, especially if the Traffic Department decides to convert (or buy) all its buses that run on CNG or any other cleaner technology. The cost of such buses will be enormous & tickets become costlier. It for this reason that Dinesh Mohan, Delhi IIT suggests practical solutions should be considered. Conversion to either CNG, Euro II diesel or 50%-50% mix of CNG-Euro II diesel give similar advantages in terms of reduction of the pollutants. A compromise is to have a 50%-50% mix of CNG-Euro II diesel buses, at least to begin with. This will help rationalize the price of tickets. A similar compromise may be required by procuring a combination of semi-low floor and low floor buses (the former are cheaper).

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Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not envy, to follow but not imitate, to praise but not flatter, and to lead but not manipulate and when it counts most,be the Man he was raised to be.

bedi

Taking tough decisions

The provision of public transport alternatives is not sufficient to achieve reduced congestion or emissions. As motorists switch to public transit, others will start driving upon seeing the congestion slightly relieved. Thus, it is always essential to attack urban congestion through comprehensive measures i.e. both traffic management and pricing which also restrict auto use.

Congestion charge
The best and most recent example of this policy is London. A time had come when the average speed in London fell to 3 miles per hour. Ken Livingstone, London Mayor introduced a £5 per day congestion charge two years ago for driving in to 8 square miles within central London. Initially opposed but still implemented the move has been so successful that the charge has now been increased to £8 per day. The Mayor has not only increased the congestion charge area, he has also promised to increase the charge to £10 when he is re-elected.

The impact of the congestion charge is detailed below –

• Traffic delays were 30% lower
• Traffic levels reduced by 18% in traffic entering the zone
• Bus passengers increased by 29,000

Congestion charging contributes to London's economy, in 2005it contributed £93 million, 73 of which will help buy 350 more buses. The remaining money is to be spent on improving road safety, pedestrian safety and cycle lanes. There are 65,000 fewer car trips into or through the charging zone each day

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Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not envy, to follow but not imitate, to praise but not flatter, and to lead but not manipulate and when it counts most,be the Man he was raised to be.

theone

I was away from my hometown Hyderabad for two years. And I see that traffic has really gone bad in Hyderabad. I have spent four years in US and I would say that we are adapting everything from US except their traffic sense.

I would like to list out a few things where we can try to improve
1) Road sense....The govt. can spend millions on improving roads but unless people do not change their traffic sense, we cannot improve our traffic problems... I don't understand why people blow horn when they are stuck in traffic.... does it help clear the traffic??? I could happily make it to my destination without ever blowing my horn..... Use your horn responsibly.... Give way for pedestrians.....

2) All vehicles using diesel must be banned from Indian roads.... buses should use natural gas and all other motor cycles and cars should use unleaded petrol..... This will greatly reduce the pollution in the country.

3) There are flyovers built all over the city...but there is no pre construction plan before laying out those flyovers..... And its because of this the traffic is chaotic whenever there is any construction in the city..... I remember one flyover taking about five years to complete and after it is complete the road that goes beside the flyover was left in a pathetic condition..... The Dept of Transportation would have to layout plans in diverting traffic in case there is any construction...... Also I am not sure if there are strict guidelines being followed while laying a road....

4) Encourage public transportation and make dedicated lanes for buses so that they are not stuck in traffic..... any other vehicles using that bus lane should be heavily fined... As ankur suggested technology should be used for ticketing and entering into the transit stations...

5) I feel 50% of the corruption in the country can be reduced if the police are honest to their profession.... People in our country are just not afraid of the police..... because we know that whatever the offense is we can let go easily.... Law and order has to be made stricter....

6) Love and respect others..... This can hardly be seen on an Indian road....


Please help yourself and others to build a better India.... Jai Hind

puyal

Who use roads? We, the public. Who are responsible for maintaining road discipline? Traffic police, public servants. Who are in charge of public servants/ The politicians. Who are in charge of Politicians
It says on the traffic manual that if the light is on amber and you have crossed the stop line you can continue across. But I know an incident where the traffic police charged the driver for this!
There is much talk about traffic police should be strict. But how can they be if the person they charge is connected and the charger is one punished So what to do? Easy. Whoever has a big vehicle, fancy vehicle,vehicle with a fancy number,vehicle with party flag and whoever violates boldly, talks back at them, zig zags past them will not be booked. If there is no accident, even if there is blatant violation like jumping signals, having banned horns, not having rear view mirror, sari guard, crash bar, not stopping at stop line, etc., then everything is ok!
First let us give the traffic police authority as responsibility and authority go hand in hand. Then make them account for it.