Comments for chennaicityconnect.com

Comment on Harrington-Sterling Road Improvement by Rajesh

Rajesh — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:20:43 +0000

Hi,
When ever there is a project implemented to improve the traffic condition the planners often forget one key stakeholder, the Pedestrian. But sadly they are most important stakeholder. End of Day every person who travels in any vehicle is finally a Pedestrian. Even you travel on a BMW, you still have to get down and walk. So why don’t we bring in a ploicy level change that any traffic improvement/infra project related to road usage is implemented, there sould be a minimum percent of the total budget be spent on the Pedestrian facility? Say 5 – 10%, if we implemented a 300Cr gradeseperator then why not 10-15 cr spent for making the life easier for the pedestrians to get to the other side. We spend crores to build a bridge, bu crib to put to elevaters on both the sides by spending some lakhs. When we make the life of motorist easy, we can atleast do this for the poor pedestrians.

Comment on Why can’t we – Service Lanes by Rajesh

Rajesh — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:12:13 +0000

Hi,
There is one thing that is part of our gene, parking a two wheeler/car on the road. We have started to take it for granted. So atleast when ever a new major road is developed, the designers should build it as part of their design. For example the OMR, they planned this in the last decade. and they have planed for a 6 lane new road. Mount Road planned 3 or 4 decades earlier was planned as 6 lanes, but its pathetic that our new age designers are planning the same 6 lanes in 2000. And now in 2010, even before the project is compelted the road is choaked. They should have planned for atleast 10 Lanes. anyways 2 lanes will be eaten by parking at atlease we will get 8 lanes for the traffic. Now all we have is only 4 lanes in most areas. When they aquire land for a major road they should plan for this parking space/walk area.

Comment on Cost of Incorrectly Positioned Bus Stops by Abhilash

Abhilash — Fri, 04 May 2012 05:57:13 +0000

Good calculation. But do we only talk about the encroachers on the road? No, then we must be wrong, in this world of heavy competition, it not only spares the bus drivers who like to stop at the mid point leaving away a small portion to their right were an auto can navigate through. Ask them they would say the real fact! Added to that, these encroachments on the road side. We need to create awareness among them and limit the competition among bus drivers.
Innovative way would be to ensure the bus bay is curved in like in many places in the OMR. I had been to Trivandrum where the pavement for people to walk is limited to access by either the signboards of shops or parking vehicles. Well maintained, and the bus bay is curved in. But how many buses take the bay, is the question!

Wake up Chennai!

Comment on Chennai Auto Rickshaw Puzzle! by K Sivaraman

K Sivaraman — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:08:46 +0000

THE GOVT. IS NOT GOING TO INITIATE STEPS FOR FLEECING AUTOFARES.AGGRESSIVE CONSUMER RESISTANCE LIKE IN WEST BENGAL SEEMS TO BE AN ALTERNATIVE.

Comment on Chennai Metro Rail Map by kothandaraman gudluru

kothandaraman gudluru — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 06:16:55 +0000

fantastic project and the work in progress is fast but is not creating hindrance to traffic.fantastic proactive planning

Comment on Para-transit Study by Balachandran

Balachandran — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 10:16:22 +0000

There is an urgent and long pending need to do a para transit report for Nanganallur and neighbouring areas. Residents of this place, which is very close to GST and the new inner ring road (southern end) is yet to get any attention from the elected representatives and MTC for minimum public transport — including mini bus and share auto services.

Comment on Autorickshaw study report by Raj Cherubal

Raj Cherubal — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:35:57 +0000

Embarq had a good workshop in Mumbai recently. Many auto entrepreneurs are trying various models. There was even a fascinating presentation by one group from Punjab doing amazing work with cycle rickshaws. Organizing them with simple technology and making them even more effective. I guess let there be many experiments and hope many such entreprenuers succeed in improving the autorick system.

Comment on Why can’t we – ERP by Raj Cherubal

Raj Cherubal — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:37:30 +0000

Thanks Shiv. We at City Connect and our partners ITDP are trying and hoping for all the things you mentioned. Espcially great public transport – for rich and poor alike. For ERPs and variations to succeed it take a lot of other things to fall in place. Having said that supply side of public transportation alone is not going to solve the problem. Other important pieces like market based parking management etc. needs to be implemented – which is pretty close to being approved by govt. Plus we are helping explore advanced, long term concepts like congestion charges – at least in white paper level so there is discussions on this. What we proposed 2 or 3 years ago, is slowly coming true today. So we are just thinking and planning ahead.

By the way, the following is part of our efforts for the last 4 years. Our first project was a footpath/pedestrian facilities project. Some light at the end of the tunnel.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/article2943506.ece

thanks.
raj

Comment on Why can’t we – ERP by shiv

shiv — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 04:39:34 +0000

The Singapore model oft repeated is a fallacy to the existing infrastructure in Indian cities.singapore structure is atleat 100 years ahead from us and even there,they failed to realise the importance of low cost first rate public transportation system.Only in the last 15 years they realised that continuous development of road infrastructure encouraging car population is a road to disaster.It is one of the reasons why I do not get enthused when the so called intelligentsia like Cherubal get involved.What Indian cities need right now are basics which are – mass transit quick public transportation accessible to the rich and poor,well laid roads ( without craters) ,international standard pavements,removal of encroachments, pedestrian crossings,traffic signals which function,proper signage s which are visible to road users,lane markings,subways for pedestrian crossings, exits and so on.These are basics which I found even in civil war torn colombo in the early 90s.Let the government start working on this, concentrate for next 20 years and in the meanwhile let the public understand that these are basics which are found even in 3rd world afrika.Right now there is all round crudity on our roads and our bunch of “enlightened and well placed”citizens have encouraged this crudity.The present times in this country is a disgrace to our ancient wisdom of 3000 years.

Comment on Why can’t we – Service Lanes by Vijay

Vijay — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:18:26 +0000

There are a couple of things that you can see on these roads that we will find very difficult to implement in our roads.

1. There is absolutely no parking on these service roads. In our city, wherever, there are service roads, it is mainly used for parking either trucks / cabs or by people visiting establishments on the road
2. At least in the photos, the number of on-road commericial establishments are very less. A small trip down IRR or OMR will show the number of petty shops and establishments all along the sides. Lot of people coming on 2-wheelers, cycles etc visit these shops, park their vehicles on the road outside. In OMR, the service road being built is going to complete used as a parking space by all these shops.

Before we design our roads, we also need to do a study of the usage pattern of the space on the road sides. Roads with big establishments can be better managed than ones with thousands of small ones.

There are lot of things to consider and sometimes regulate:
1. Number of people visitng these shops and how do they come – two wheelers, walk, cars …
2. Where do these shops places its wares and materials?
— Lots of shops place their items on footpaths.
— Mechanic shops take up most of foot paths and roads for parking their vehicles. These shops are so small that you can’t ask them to provide parking inside. So, should there a permit system for mechanic shops and only ones who can get adequate land be allowed? If so, i think apart from those “authorized” dealerships, most other mechanic shops need to be shut down
— Lots of small construction firms dumps loads of sand, gravel etc on the road side right in front of their shops. In smaller roads, this sometimes occupies half the road and make it dangerous for driving
— Eateries have pan shops, juice stalls etc directly facing footpaths leading people to just stand directly on the road.

Only when such usages of the roads are regulated or streamlined, will the concept of a service road be effective on our roads.