Exciting news. Mr Michael Replogle, Global Policy Director and Founder and Mr Walter Hook, Executive Director will be visiting Chennai on 29th and 30th of August, 2010. More about Michael and Walter.

In the short time CCC and ITDP have become partners, we have initiated some very interesting projects. Anna Nagar Cycle Track project being the latest. We hope to help transform Chennai into a world class city.

To quote from Casablanca, “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

The Infrastructure Development Finance Company Limited (IDFC) joined CCC and appointed LandTech Engineers Pvt Ltd. to conduct traffic and related studies of the stretch. Topology and traffic surveys were conducted by LandTech.

Based on these surveys, LandTech engineers are studying the traffic problems, not to mention how to provide safe and convenient facilities to pedestrians. Various options are being looked at. We will then present these options to CoC and Chennai Traffic Police for their consideration. We expect this to happen in the next few weeks.

After the solution(s) are approved by the authorities, we will deliver the necessary documents so that CoC can tender and implement them. We hope this will vastly improve the facilities available for pedestrians and also, greatly improve the traffic flow in the stretch.

Needless to say, the event was a very good success. When we proposed this idea to the Corporation officials and I expected, not sure why, them to be skeptical. But officials responded very positively. They felt that such interaction would present various progressive options to Councilors and officials. Thereby widening the debate of what kind of a city do we want Chennai to develop into.

Mayor and Councilors pretty much arrived on time. Importantly, the Mayor was accompanied by the Deputy Mayor, the Leader of the Ruling Party and the Leader of the Opposition Party. There were about 30 Councilors at the event, from various political parties. Mayor very proudly mentioned this – that Councilors from the CPM, CPI, PMK, Congress and other parties were present at the event.

When the presentation started, in English, I was worried that we had made a mistake and that the audience would find it boring. One official had told us that many of the Councilors do not follow English well. We had translated some interesting documents on pedestrianisation and cycling in Manhattan into Tamil.

But I was relieved when most of the audience paid serious attention to the presentation. (One media report said some Councilors joked and attended phone calls). I did hear phones ringing a few times, but not to the extend mentioned in the article. (Maybe I am older and deafer than the young reporter. Or maybe I choose to focus on the what/art of the possible. )

After the Gehl presentation the Commissioner spoke and then the Mayor delivered his thoughts. We were all very impressed with the Mayor’s speech. For the convenience of the Councilors in the audience, he spoke in Tamil and not only summarizes the Gehl presentation, he also reasoned why such projects – creating public space for citizens of Chennai, cycling facilities, etc. – are important, even if there is lack of compliance from the public.

The Mayor said – create a no-car, pedestrian only space, and you will find someone trying to stick his vehicle in and violating the rule. My heart sank a bit thinking that Mayor was going to argue that such projects are impractical in Chennai. This is what you usually hear in any get together of talking heads like me.

But the Mayor said, and Councilors agreed with their nods and smiles, that just because the public may not comply now, does not mean the local body should continue to say, “nothing is going to change, our people are not going to change”. We need to pilot, create awareness for such projects and keep moving forward. Including dealing with tough issues like creating wider footpaths, cycle tracks, etc. He then mentioned the Anna Nagar Cycle Track project.

There was a lunch after the presentation and speeches. Commissioner, Joint Commissioner and other officials stayed on for the lunch. I did some informal survey of among some Councilors to see how practical the presentation was. Interestingly they too felt these kinds of projects were very important. One Councilor from the Ward around Pattalam complained how difficult it was to even cross the streets near her house. Kids find it difficult to go to school, etc.

Overall this was a great start for a new kind of interaction for CCC. Until now we have dealt with mostly officials. As you would expect, since they speak English, dress like us, come from similar backgrounds, etc. we too find it easier to discuss and propose ideas. This event with Mayor and Councilors shows that not only can organisations like CCC have a good interaction with elected representatives, but also we must.

Nice account of Gehl team’s experience in Chennai and Pune.

Media coverage.
Mayor wants Chennai to go Time …..
Anna Nagar will get cycle track in 15 days
Cycle track in Anna Nagar soon.

But no site offers transit connectivity details for a city like Chennai that has so many transport corridors. For example if you had to commute between 2 locations using 2 different modes or using 2 different buses of MTC then you will find it hard to plan this journey via the web. That gives rise to need for solutions like Google Transit, that offer these details. Also giving you the advantage of spatially planning your trip.

Designing a Transit agency is an science as you would see examples from around the web. For instance, Washington Metro where multi-modal trip planning is best illustrated and further more you can actually share this information by email and also have it sent to you via sms if there is a need. Another good example to watch is the Transport For London website that offers an option to search based on the bus stop and areas of interest. The site can also give you the current positions of all buses with reference on any bus stop for any given route. (This is in many ways similar to our MTC facility here) but it is more graphical and easy to comprehend and based on bus stops!)

The Deutche Bahn is another site that is brilliant when it comes to multi-modal planning. Not only does it offer trip planning, it offers you the ability to plan your trip based on your country of origin! Imagine a Chennai visitor being able to plan a trip in MTC depending on his location of entry to Chennai! Here is snapshot of some transit websites and their best features.

Hope this would be the start of some important steps to arrest the shrinkage of the marsh and reclaim the lands now being encroached and being used to dump garbage. Current rate at which the marsh area is shrinking is alarming.  For more on this please read a very good report put together by Ms Jayashree V of Care Earth about the delicate ecology of this area.

We are pleased to host an Interaction session with Robert Swan. For lesser mortals like the editor of the city connect website, here is brief about Robert Swan.
Robert Swan, OBE is one of the world’s preeminent polar explorers and environmental leaders. By age 33, Robert Swan, OBE became the first person to walk to both the North and South Poles, earning his place in history alongside the great explorers and adventurers. His 900 mile journey to the South Pole, ‘In the Footsteps of Scott’, stands as the longest unassisted walk ever made on earth.

During his expeditions, Swan experienced firsthand the effects of global warming at both Poles. In Antarctica, his eyes forever changed color after prolonged exposure under the hole in the ozone layer. In the Arctic, his team survived near-death encounters in a melting ocean, prematurely caused by global warming.
These powerful experiences only helped to shape and focus Swan’s lifetime goal: working towards the preservation of Antarctica as the last great wilderness on earth. In 1992, Robert Swan, OBE was the Keynote Speaker at the first ‘World Summit for Sustainable Development’ held in Rio de Janeiro. There he addressed world leaders and was charged with undertaking a 10 year global and local environmental mission which would involve industry, business and young people.
Ten years later in 2002, Swan reported back to world leaders at the second World Summit held in Johannesburg. He had successfully completed all of his promised missions, including numerous international, youth-driven clean-up projects in Antarctica and Africa. A true visionary at heart, Swan committed to a third 10 year mission, this time to inspire youth to become sustainable leaders and promote the use of renewable energy throughout the planet.
Since 2003, Swan has led annual expeditions to Antarctica with students and business executives to focus on leadership training, environmental clean-up and education initiatives. The ‘Inspire Antarctic Expedition’ teams helped design and build the world’s first renewable energy Education Station in Antarctica, called the E-Base.
In March 2008, Robert Swan, OBE made Antarctic history again by living solely on renewable energy at the E-Base for over two weeks. Successful in the world’s harshest climate, the positive message Swan sent to the world was “This is possible in Antarctica, and surely it is possible in the ‘real world’!”

Currently Robert Swan, OBE is on a five-year global ‘Voyage for Cleaner Energy’ aboard his renewable energy sailboat, which will conclude at the third World Summit, currently expected to take place in Singapore. Swan aims to showcase sustainable living practices and transport alternatives that run solely on renewable energy.
Swan’s contribution to education and the environment has been recognized on an international scale, seen through his appointment as United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for Youth and Special Envoy to the Director General of UNESCO. He was awarded the high distinction of OBE, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, as well as the Polar Medal by Her Majesty the Queen.

Robert Swan, OBE is an exceptionally gifted communicator and has an uncanny ability to motivate those around him into action. His unique insights and life experiences inspire and educate business leaders and young people around the world, and he clearly translates his icy experiences at the Poles to delicate maneuvers in the boardroom.
Swan’s real-life discussion of leadership, trust and working together never ceases to thrill, uplift and stimulate crowds, drawing standing ovations throughout the globe.

Just 11 schools in this zone account for nearly 22000 students with around 25% of them currently commuting by bicycle to school! So the process of opting for the right routes to make sure students actually use them is currently being worked on.

As part of the initial survey, schools will be asked about the origin destination of students so that the desire lines are available to our architects to plan accordingly. The first report will be presented on the 14th of August to the corporation.
Watch this space for more updates.

Gehl Architects, the world renowned Urban architects are visiting Chennai on August 16 2010 and are likely to take a trip around the city to make recommendations to the city planners. Over the course of their six day visit which is going to comprise of experts who are exponents in their area of practice, they will also be meeting senior bureaucrats and share their knowledge and experience from elsewhere that Chennai can benefit from.

Gehl architects, is the consulting team that has been behind the successful urban re-design of cities like Copenhagen, Stockholm to name a few. (click to read organization profile)

To get an idea of the financial loss due to the existing design, we did the following calculation.

The calculation methodology was simple: we took the number of vehicles that stop due to the bus every-time and multiply that by the number of times this incident happens per hour for an hourly loss.

The per day loss(fuel loss) alone amounts to about Rs 7000/ which amounts to 25.8 lakhs a year! (single side of the road) and mind you that is just one mis-aligned bus stop! You do the math for the rest of the city!

This also presents a classic case for a BRT(Bus Rapid Transit) system for Chennai.

The calculation sheet is given here:

In this specific case, the fault may not completely be with the Bus Stop alignment, since the pavement is encroached, walkers and passengers waiting for the bus tend to get onto the road virtually taking away half a lane! And then the cascading starts.
In any case, positioning bus stops in stretches where lesser lanes is only available should be avoided. Also buses can be routed via, the bus depot available nearby, to avoid a traffic block. (This would also need a well designed merging lane)

Some of us have gotten so used to waiting at Anna Flyover that we failed to see an obvious simple design modification that would have a huge impact in this intersection. All credits to Mark, for his elegant design, the plans are already submitted to the Corporation, Highways and the Traffic Police and they are in the process of implementing it soon.

The Highways Department will submit a detailed proposal to the Government of Tamil Nadu for consideration.

The challenges and the constraints that Mark had during the course of this design; Statue! Median! Embassy! etc… is probably worth mentioning in a separate blog!

Here is a presentation to give you an idea of what he came up with:

The long-term solution, at this stage is only for illustration.

A snapshot of what is being suggested: By removing the round-about, and making minor changes to the median alignment, the design suggests that 2 right turn movement can happen simultaneously.  The Nungambakkam High Road traffic that moves into Teynampet direction and the Cathedral Road traffic that moves into Anna Salai can happen simultaneously.

About the Transport Consultant

The Lead consultant for this project is Mark Selvaraj who heads LandTech Engineers Pvt Ltd.