Low Carbon Transport

Share the Road – DIMTS' Active Transport Cell!

Walking and Cycling Facts

Over a third of trips in Delhi only involve a walk. Every day nearly half the population walks to public transport using carriageways, pavements, and pedestrian crossings. Few of us stop to think whether the service is adequate in a way that we might think about the performance of a new car or motorcycle.

In some parts of the city, half of all trips are undertaken by bicycle. According to RITES, 13% of all the trips in the city are by cycle rickshaw, about the same as those taken by car.


Barriers to walking and cycling

Despite the unacknowledged contribution of rickshaws as a complement to Delhi's public transport network, particularly for women, cycles of all hues are being squeezed off the road. Nearly all journeys to public transit are likewise on foot, yet can we seriously expect people to use it if a pavement or crossing isn't available to get to it. 40% of roads in Delhi don't have a pavement.

Car-centric planning is forcing us to use vehicles whether we want to or not, or face elongated journeys along barricaded highways of fast moving traffic looking for that elusive 'gap in the median'. This slide from Romi Roy, a consultant at Delhi's Urban Transport unifying body UTTIPEC, taken at a place we all know, Ashram shows how we are literally being 'forced' to drive even if we'd rather walk or cycle.

©Romi Roy, Sustainable Urban Design Consultant, Delhi

Why the 'auto-centric model' is futile

No city has ever succeeded in 'building its way out of congestion'. Cars have to come off a flyover somewhere. It's only a question of time until the benefits of wider roads, elevated roads and underpasses in the city get spent. And by then, getting to public transit will involve even more tortuous trips across wide roads, under dark, dank flyovers, scaling foot over bridges or scurrying down leaking subways. Retrofitting for public transit friendly streets will be politically difficult and very expensive. Without a quick shift in thinking, DIMTS' mission to 'see the majority of trips (in Delhi) to be undertaken by public transport' will remain a distant dream.

We need to plan for compact communities now where transport choices are integrated with land use. We should be able to pick up most of our needs within walking or cycling distance. Offices should be situated near to our homes and so should public transport services, no more than 5 to 7 minutes walk away with a connector to longer distance transport should we need it – Metro or rail.

Why this site?

The idea of this site is to stoke up some thoughts on these issues, find out whether we are happy with the service on offer and try and work out what we can do about it if we want something better. Is there a pavement on your journey? Is it full of rubble and garbage? Can you cross directly or do you have to make an unnecessary long pedestrian trip because cars get priority? Do you feel safe walking on the road? We want your views so we can talk to each other and to those who have powers to make things better. I don't know where we might end up, but I'm looking forward to starting the journey.

The Benefits

There is a public duty to promote cycling and walking, but perhaps it's worth rehearsing the arguments.

• Walking is good for our health and good for health budgets paid for from general taxation. Doctors recommend half an hour of aerobic exercise a day to reduce the threat of osteoporosis, Type II diabetes, heart disease and many other ills.
• Those who cycle for half an hour a day have a body metabolism 10 years younger than their natural age.
• In a globally competitive market place where cities' intellectual capital is a key player, raising quality of life fosters economic development. Polluted, unsafe streets with high levels of congestion are not likely to attract high achievers who can live where they choose.
• Walking and cycling are free or very cheap means of transport which especially benefits those on low incomes
• Walking and cycling are zero polluting modes. In a city where particulate matter, mostly from diesel vehicles, rises 4x above the safe minimum that's an important attribute. Then there's global warming.
• If we encourage people to cycle rather than take public transit we can reduce pollution and free up space on the bus for people who are already using cars. If we deter cycling and walking pollution will increase.

Best Practice Models

1.Holland

• These benefits are available if we want them. Compared to other European countries and the US, in the 1970s Holland realized that their transport policy and planning wasn't working. Plans prioritized motorized vehicles and excluded those who needed to walk or cycle. Congestion and accidents were on the up. People had no choice but to use a car. Everyone was a loser, even the die-hard car addicts stuck in a jam.
• The Dutch authorities developed multimodal plans that included provision for cycles and pedestrians in the transport mix. Thirty years on Holland is the envy of other European countries who neglected pedestrians and cyclists. In Holland 25 per cent of trips are by cycle, the majority of riders middle class professionals, including women and children; public transport is easy to get to with level crossings throughout the city. Should we catch up with modern challenges or should we blindly copy the mistakes of the past?

How to get involved

• Sharing your thoughts with us on how we can widen choices to facilitate easier, safer walking and cycling in Delhi
• Are we on the right track with Foot Over Bridges, Subways?
• Are there enough pavements and road crossings?
• Should we go 'signal free and prioritize free left turns over pedestrian crossing?
• Send us photos and text on examples of bad planning, road management or regulation. I cannot guarantee that these will be addressed but I can commit to send them to the relevant authority and make them publicly available for others to read.

Your information will help feed a new initiative on the part of DIMTS to set up a Non-Motorized Transport Cell. Composed of academics, professionals, industry representatives and officers from the Traffic Police and municipal agencies, the purpose of the cell is to raise awareness of the importance of NMT especially amongst policymakers and the young, seek improvements to road infrastructure so that we can provide a fairer distribution of road space based on moving people not solely vehicles, research NMT issues and disseminate results. For a full list click on the Terms of Reference. The cell can't exist in a vacuum, hence this site, so…….stop sitting back and get walking and cycling……get involved.

Post your comments or any pictures that you want to share on this subject. If there are any events related to this subject that is to happen and which you want to share here please feel free to post.