ITDP’s parking expert – Michael Kordonsky was in Chennai recently to conduct a day long seminar on parking. it was a run-through on his observations of many cities in the west. it was good to hear from so many around the table.

Co-incidentally at City Connect Foundation we are now working on a parking policy document with the help of CPPR. the study focuses on next set of policy changes that need to be put in place for a city like chennai to address the issue where clearly the demand is way above the supply.

• Current Parking Position
• Parking Management models from across the globe
• Specific case studies and strategies for Mylapore, RK Salai, Purasaiwalkam, Adyar

In the context of Chennai, the ones to immediately be accused when there is a traffic issue is the number of share autos / tata magic vehicles. They are looked more as road occupying entities and not as vehicles that transport people and also increase the capacity of high capacity transit corridors by providing a feeder role to them.

Team Civitas along with City Connect is now working on a Para Transit Report, which intends to statistically give the contribution of these Para-Transit vehicles to the transportation system in Chennai and also would explore and inspect similar best pratices across the globe.

Watch this space for more on the report.

We went into the study, not expecting the results that came! Now that the field data is out, it can help us make more informed policy decisions.

Here is also a presentation of the main points observed during the study:

Mr Raj Cherubal, Director-Projects of Chennai City Connect is writing a weekly column on city infrastructure in Times Property.

Metal stumps stick out from the road on my way to work – short, sharp ghosts of earlier signposts, few inches from the now re-incarnated median. I ran over one. Now a bit wiser, I drive far away from medians, wasting precious space on already-congested roads.

Two ways become a one-way without modification to footpaths, junctions; in addition, entirely different traffic patterns – traffic lights, signage, parking, planned lanes for turning vehicles, add to the exissting woes. Achieving the desired result of improved traffic flow temporarily, this leaves hapless pedestrians with no wider footpaths or safe crossings, increased chaotic and haphazard parking. Similarly, cuts on new roads, a pet Indian peeve, while inevitable in evolving urban environments, exacerbate the bitterness with lack of re-filling standards.

Beyond democratic whining, let us start afresh. World over, even tiny towns, apply standards. The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) has developed standards for Indian conditions – immense density, vendors, pedestrian safety, managed traffic and parking – with thought-through templates for disparate streets. After consultation, the Corporation of Chennai (CoC) and urban departments of Highways, an oxymoron, should adopt them.

Employ experts to design every square inch of streets. This currently non-existent practice costs a fraction of the tender and saves precious lives and incalculable headache. While at it, establish dedicated, competent traffic planning cell in CoC, with representation from traffic police. An influential official once burst out in frustration, “Let CoC rip out all decrepit pieces of existing roads and re-do them from scratch. Let the city have a world-class system of roads.” Surely citizens of Chennai will second that.

Re-working dense streets, re-locating utilities of uninterested agencies and politically-sensitive demolitions should not be underestimated. Employ project management professionals to ensure quality and timeliness. Outsource long-term maintenance, under stringent service-level agreements. Let citizens’ groups and officials jointly monitor and hold the contractor’s feet to fire.

Imagine engineered slopes for water flow into modern drains – this will save re-doing of all roads after next rains – ducts for utilities, luxurious pedestrian and bus-stop facilities, modern traffic controls, efficient junctions and controlled parking. Ostensibly extravagant, these are peanuts compared to costs inflicted by congested and unsafe streets. Let us reimagine Chennai roads while saving our already battered tyres.

First Published in Times Of India

Mr Raj Cherubal, Director-Projects of Chennai City Connect is writing a weekly column on city infrastructure in Times Property.

Read on Times Property site

WHOSE CITY IS IT ANYWAY

RAJ CHERUBAL gives us a glimpse of how successful Corporations from across the world – Cape Town and Singapore, for instance, function…

Monsoon in Singapore offers double the joy – an opportunity to get wet in the warm tropical downpour and watch every drop of it flow into the storm water drain, accurately, as engineered. While the road is barely wet, rainwater flows into nearby drains like the mighty Kaveri. This seemingly simple feat obviously requires co-ordination across myriad agencies of footpath, medians, carriage way, trees, utilities, drains, ponds and parks. Not obvious are the roles of prudent investments, robust municipal accounting, management of revenues and human resource, training, standards and processes, accurate data collection and analysis in coaxing each raindrop into those drains.

In this context, the McKinsey report on urbanisation contrasts India’s urban capital spending of $17 per person per year with China ($116) and New York ($292). Chennai will have to invest billions – $134 per capita per year – to ensure quality of life or to cajole our raindrops from submerging our city, so to speak. Further, is there capacity in the system to effectively utilise such large amounts?

The metropolitan city of Cape Town was formed in 2000 from merging seven municipalities that in turn were 1996 mergers of numerous other cities. With foresight, the City Government initiated the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) – IT project to integrate all aspects of finance, human resource, urban amenities, land and material and customer interaction in 2001. Philip Van Ryneveld, first Chief Financial Officer of post-apartheid Cape Town Government, says “ERP implementation served as a key enabler at the administrative level, permitting strategic management and integration of processes – these are not available in more fragmented systems.” Since then, the city has saved hundreds of millions of dollars while delivering equitable service at lower costs, he adds.

The Corporation of Chennai is set to expand by absorbing neighbouring Panchayats and Municipalities. Presumably, soon Chennai – with Tambaram, Avadi and others made Corporations by a political and participatory process – will constitute Metropolitan Chennai as mandated by the 74th Amendment of our Constitution. Chennai is one of the Silicon Valleys of the world. It is only appropriate that our Corporations are empowered with modern systems to tackle these additional challenges and deliver equitable services. To hasten this process, the city’s IT community should step forward. Your city needs you.

The writer is Director – Projects, Chennai City Connect, an infrastructure platform for urban stakeholders

Mr Raj Cherubal, Director-Projects of Chennai City Connect is writing a weekly column on city infrastructure in Times Property.

WOES OF FREE PARKING

RAJ CHERUBAL offers a glimpse of effective parking solutions in cities across the world…

If the Corporation of Chennai (CoC) gives out gold for free, all of us would soon decry the shortage of gold and demand for an increased supply. Parking space, a finite and precious commodity, obeys the same laws of economics – artificially price them low, watch over-use and misuse dried-up supply. Paradoxically, free parking is the enemy of adequate parking.

Prof Donald Shoup, in his book, The High Cost of Free Parking, estimates that driving around looking for parking adds to 30% of the local traffic in the US. That’s 9, 50,000 excess miles a year in just a 15-block area in Los Angeles, 38 trips around the earth or four trips to the moon. Wonder how many moon trips Chennaites make, causing deadly pollution, congestion and colossal waste of fuel.

San Francisco is implementing Shoup’s idea – performance based parking pricing. Smart meters and sensors actively monitor demand and dynamically adjust prices to ensure 85% occupancy and zero search time for someone looking for parking. Similarly, New York succeeded in reducing local congestion and increasing parking availability. Hong Kong and Tokyo price parking with time

Read More

Mr Raj Cherubal, Director Projects of Chennai City Connect is writing a weekly column on City Infrastructure in Times Property.

Here is an excerpt of the first article:

It is time to look forward optimistically to 2011 as the year of Chennai’s transformation. Let’s start with a pilot of 100 km of Complete Street – footpaths, managed parking with pricing, well designed lanes including cycling tracks where possible, advanced traffic management on bus routes, like the city of Shanghai, for instance. Once completed, this can be extended to cover another 500 km, integrated with storm water systems and long-term maintenance contract to ensure sustainability.
While ensuring speedy completion of Metro Rail, implement a complementary Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) like in Guangzhou. Place MRTS and suburban train under Metro’s control and its common facilities, including ticketing and feeder, and ensure a complete network across metropolitan area. Facilitate well-planned denser development with great public spaces around transit hubs and corridors like in Hong Kong.
Implement Area Level Plans for all business districts to manage traffic, garbage, water, parking and transportation. Create pedestrianised spaces and watch footfalls, profits and hence tax revenue soar like in Times Square, NY. Prepare ground for congestion pricing.

In peri-urban Chennai, implement grid network of roads and transportation along with high quality urban amenities like in Singapore. Implement scientifically-developed management plans to protect and preserve Pallikaranai marsh to prevent catastrophic flooding of South Chennai and provide home to flora and fauna. Connect all parks and green areas, and the banks of a pristine Cooum, with walking and cycling trails.
Use PPP (Public Private Partnership) to develop affordable housing, on utterly underutilised, vast city lands of Housing and Slum Boards, especially along transit corridors. Cross-subsidise with dense commercial, rent-rich facilities. Further initiate housing vouchers to catalyse rentals and help low income families, like the Section 8 scheme in the US.
To build capacity in the system, devolve taxation and accountability to the Corporation of Chennai and implement complaint management systems like in Cape Town. Invite Land Transport Authority of Singapore and much admired practitioners to teach us the nitty-gritties of policy, planning and implementation. Let us build our city and look back and wonder, “How did we do it?”

click here to read the column

Following article by Mr GRK Reddy, CMD of Marg Group appeared in Times of India. Mr Reddy is member of the Executive Committee of Chennai City Connect.

Tier 2 cities are fast progressing to be 2 million population cities leading to ever increasing urbanization issues like hygiene, pollution and traffic snarls.” says Mr GRK Reddy, CMD Marg Based on urbanization trends, India will require at-least 300 new cities with a minimum population of a million each. These will come in the form of existing city upgrades as well as new city development, leading to economies of scale and 30% lesser energy consumption. This is a sign of things to come.

For more from this article published in the Times of India click here