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May 08, 2000
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.
Updated Fortnightly
The writer is former editor of Elle.
Other columnists:
| M.V.Kamath |