Walk the Talk

United States Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood recently announced, to public acclaim in car-dependent America, that bicycle use and walking should be given the same importance as motorised transport in State and local projects. The Government of India took a similar view in its National Urban Transport Policy 2006 (NUTP). But it has been unable to persuade the States to implement the far-sighted reforms needed to make cities people-friendly. Providing a new deal for the cities now depends upon the commitment of the Ministry of Urban Development to pursue the reform agenda. A good place to start is to rate cities for their people-friendly quality. The Ministry has a good grading tool in the form of service-level benchmarks for pedestrians, bicyclists, and public transport users, among others. The NUTP unveiled a people-centric vision, yet the large sums of money that have been invested in urban infrastructure, such as flyovers and roads, centre-stage vehicles, not people. These structures are daunting to pedestrians, particularly children, the disabled, and the elderly. State governments have been dragging their feet on a vital aspect of the reform — the creation of a statutory Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) for the bigger cities. Had UMTA come into being, the massive funds granted under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission would have helped improve commuter services.

With the necessary legislative sanction to back it, the Authority can bring the major modes of public transport such as rail, bus, and feeder services under a single regulatory framework and make travel on a single ticket possible. This would end the administrative dichotomy of urban railways being run by the central government in some cities and the bus systems coming under State control. There is also a healthy living dimension to modernising public transport services and improving the ‘walkability' of cities. According to a well-cited study, “Walking to public transit: steps to help meet physical activity recommendations,” reported in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in November 2005, nearly a third of American commuters who used public transport achieved, by walking to and from transit, the 30 minutes of physical activity a day recommended by the Surgeon-General. To fund urban infrastructure that hinders pedestrian movement is therefore to work against public health. Secretary LaHood summed it up nicely when he said Americans want to get out of their cars, get out of congestion, and have more opportunities for transport and exercise. Same here, Indians would say.

Courtesy: THE HINDU (22/04/2010)