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Problems
of car seva far from pedestrian
One
thing I do not understand is why, in a city where just a segment
of the population owns cars, it is the problems of traffic jams,
rising petrol prices, parking problems etc. that we spend so much
time and space debating. Look at any listing of the city’s
problems and you will find traffic heading the list. So okay, traffic
is a problem. But what about other modes of transport? And what
about the millions of people who use them? If their grievances ever
did form part of the city’s concerns, then our increasingly
car-centric problem solutions are in extreme danger of sidelining
them. I have a problem, for instance.
I like
to walk. And no one but no one when they talk of roads seems to
think they could be meant for anything without a set of wheels.
Tried walking anywhere in the city these days? If you don’t
get knocked down by an oversized car you would have the pleasure
of negotiating hawkers, pavement dwellers, excreta, urine, bushes
sprouting in the middle of pavements, overhanging hedges, drunks,
urchins, gravel, stones, cats, rubble, bricks, food stalls, stray
dogs, dustbins, parked cars, overflowing gutters, rubbish, garbage
dumps, puddles, uneven surfaces, roads under repair.
Alright,
I must admit there are a whole lot of pretty, well-maintained parks
with walking tracks these days. The beaches are cleaner and there’s
a nice seafront promenade coming up a stone’s throw from where
I live. So there are opportunities opening up for the leisure walker.
But what about the habitual walker, the person who would prefer
to walk from appointment A to appointment B, from office to train
station, from movie theatre to restaurant, from shop to home or
wherever to wherever than take a bus or drive. Someone who pounds
the pavements, crosses the streets, uses the subways and, in doing
so, saves fuel, reduces pollution and lessens the load on the public
transport system. Is such a person to be discouraged?
At
present there are certainly no signs of encouragement. Apart from
the pathetic state of walking spaces and the indignities periodically
heaped on pedestrians such as being held back at traffic signals
with ropes, there seems to be a lacuna at the conceptual level.
Ever seen anyone walking purposefully along the long pavement from
Poonam Chambers to the Haji Ali juice centre — probably among
the most picturesque stretches in the city?
Does
it have something to do with the inhospitable feel of exposed pavement
and traffic rushing past? Then again, some weeks ago I walked from
Nariman Point to Regal, a route that takes one past skyscrapers,
the sleepy old buildings around the Oval, Cooperage, the Institute
of Science, the NGMA. It should have been a nice walk. I couldn’t
wait for it to end. The roads were a nightmare to cross, the lonely
stretches were menacing and nothing seemed to connect with anything
else. Bad enough as things are, they are going to get worse with
the imminent explosion of flyovers. If you’ve never thought
of the alienating effects of a flyover, then stand for a couple
of minutes outside the Vama showroom at Peddar Road or the Lotus
bookshop in Bandra and imagine you have to get across the road.
It could make your hair stand on end. Think how much worse it could
be for a senior citizen or someone with disabilities. This newspaper
carried an article last week on the benefits of a Rotary Grade Separator
versus a flyover.
Such
solutions that take the pedestrian and non-motorised vehicles such
as cyclists into account need to be seriously considered. In the
meantime, though, I would wish for manageable solutions. Just small
things like snipped hedges, pavements clean and cleared of encumberances
at least of the non-human kind. A vigil to prevent people dumping
construction and other kinds of debris. Even surfaces. A few flowers.
Well that and better weather would
be nice.
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