Public involvement key to disciplined traffic

Public involvement key to disciplined traffic
Deccan Herald

Still jostling for walking space with those speeding cars and mobikes? Maybe, you should gesture at them to stop, and walk across. It could just work, according to Kenneth Kruckemeyer, from the Center for Transportation and Logistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Expert’s mantra

During his talk on Growth and Change in Boston and Bangalore-hosted by Environment Support Group - on Thursday, the public transportation expert’s mantra was pegged to public participation.

“People should also educate engineers on infrastructure projects like highways. They know their neighbourhoods better and know what works best for them. There should be two-way learning, as against the format where engineers submit maps, call for public objections, make some changes and get on with the project,” he said.

Citing successful public transportation models from Boston to Bogota to Curitiba to Seattle, Mr Kruckemeyer said the challenge ahead for Bangalore was in developing a mass transit system that everyone wants to travel.

Fun to ride

“It has to be convenient, stylish and fun to ride. It’s about capturing the people’s imagination,” he said. Mr Kruckemeyer felt that Metro Rail was not the answer to all of Bangalore’s traffic problems.

Silver bullet

“Metro alone is not going to be the silver bullet that works for everyone. Metro should ideally cover an integrated network that also takes into account the sidewalks and adjacent streets,” he said.

Mr Kruckemeyer was also apprehensive about the elevated Metro stretch on M G Road. He cited an example from Boston where rail tracks were constructed in tunnels beneath a park, with exhaustion shafts to ensure that the environment above was not polluted.