Growing city's puzzles

Growing city's puzzles
Vijay Times

rack this simple puzzle and have Bangaloreans, and perhaps rest of India as well, fawning over you. Should available infrastructure determine a city’s growth in terms of population and vehicles or should infrastructure keep pace with the growth? Majority will say infrastructure should keep pace with the growth. It is a wish and not the answer. Reality check will show that what seems to be the obvious still defies a solution.

Bangalore, variously described as the IT capital of the world, fastest growing city in the country, emerging centre of health tourism and what not, is good enough for only 35 lakh people and 8 lakh vehicles.

But it already houses 75 lakh people and nearly 27 lakh vehicles. And nearly a 1000 vehicles get registered daily.

The result is unending traffic snarls, water scarcity, power cuts, potholed roads, pollution, sky-high land prices, not to mention the stink from uncleared garbage and people relieving themselves on roadside.

And in just 8 years from now, 15 lakh more people are expected to make Bangalore their home, according to an estimate by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA).

Will Bangalore see better days ahead or live with these problems? Well, it depends, on the government and civic authorities as well as the city’s residents, say experts.

Bangaloreans present and future may not welcome some of the suggestions. One of them is to restrict the number of vehicles being registered in the city and the number of days it is registered! “One way to stop the increase in vehicular population is to register only 250 vehicles for two days a week, instead of regular 950 vehicles registered six days a week,” says M N Sreehari, Chairman, Traffic Engineers and Safety Trainers (TEST).

DCP Traffic (East) M A Saleem does not think much of the restrict vehicle registration formula. “It might not work as people may register their vehicles elsewhere and bring it to City.” A suggestion of BMTC that may also not get an enthusiastic response is to make more use of public transport. A practical solution is to make people switch over to public transport, says BMTC MD Upendra Tripathy. “Future plans include adding 1,000 more buses by October 2007, taking the fleet size to 5,000,” he says.

The city’s population should be 35 lakh and the reality is 75 lakh and it would reach 90 lakh by 2015 the trafic population should be
8 lakh and the reality is 26.8 lakh

HOW TO CONTROL THIS CHAOS

nRegister only 250 vehicles for two days a week instead of regular 950 vehicles registered six days a week.

nDevelop a city about 30 kms away with an area of 40-50 sqkms radius

nIt should limit to 40 lakh population

nShould have potential for vertical expansion

nTo be developed on BOOT (build-operate-own-transfe basis over five to eight years.

Bursting at its seams

1,000 MORE BUSES

BMTC MD, Upendra Tripathy, says external factors such as increase in traffic density has affected its schedules. “Our roads are capable of handling just eight lakh vehicles, but over 24 lakh vehicles ply on them.” He says a practical solution is to make people switch over to public transport. “Future plans include adding 1,000 more buses by October 2007, taking the fleet size to 5,000.”

Roads under strain

DCP Traffic (East) M A Saleem says the increasing vehicles has affected free movement in central areas of the City.

“Our roads are functioning beyond capacity. Many measures including converting 87 roads into one-ways, imposing parking restrictions on arterial roads have helped ease the situation” he says.

On moratorium on registration of new vehicles: "It might not work as people may register their vehicles elsewhere and bring it to City.

SREEHARI FORMULA

nTraffic control, management, regulation and enforcement should aid BTRAC

nCreate model roads in each zone and emulate them

n42 traffic zones with 42 traffic inspectors to adopt one km road stretch each

nImplement with time-bound plan

nCan increase to 20 roads within six months

nRope-in BMP corporators and make them adopt four roads in each ward