Sunday, November 22, 2009
The delight in Europe has a great deal to do with clean air, non-interfering people, healthy food, great shopping centres, winter style for women etc. But one of the most important elements, lest it be forgotten, is that most of them are 'walking cities'. Almost every city in Europe has pedestrian walks and cyclist's lane along side the main road. 'Walking cities' are easy to cover on foot, usually there is a single centre' located in every city, well connected by roads and efficient public transport systems, therefore the sprawl of the city as such is hardly much.
On the other hand in the US, especially cities like New York, the ditances between two parts are vast, but these are covered by a very efficient Metro system, that is running 24/7 come sleet, come snow storms, thankgiving or christmas. This is also true for all buses which run on schedule and make it easy for those waiting to time themselves accordingly. In New York, there exists a single swipe card which works for both bus rides and metro rides. These can be purchased for a nominal price every month/every week/annual depending upon your needs.
Recently, Chennai, India, saw the visit of Enrique Penelosa-former Bogota Mayor, who works for the institute for transportation Development and Policy. According to him, "the single biggest difference between the ifrastructure of an advanced state and a backward nation is its footpaths and not its highways. The quality of footpaths determine the quality of life in a city."
Delhi,does not have too many footpaths yet there are numerous pedestrians. There are no cyclist lanes. The roads are spacious, but they seem to be shrinking everyday, there are separate bus lanes but very often the private bus systems do not keep to them. Yet, one can see stupendous efforts to make Delhi dependant on public transport, the metro construction is going on 24/7 to meet the challenge of the commonwealth games, the numerous highways/flyovers are designed with the aim of reducing bottlenecks in key areas and wherever new rodas are being built-a pedestrian lane is being provided for. Infact, some parts of Delhi have also started the Swipe card system for buses aswell. New Delhi cannot hope to become a 'walking city'-its impossible to imagine anyone walking from South/East Delhi to the Centre(Connaught Place). However, greener spaces, parks,an efficient and reliable transport system and more sidewalks, will help both Delhites and foreigners explore parts of this gorgeous city and hopefully make it a delightful experience aswell.
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