Everyone dreams of living the big life in a big city in India or
abroad. But except for maybe the super-rich, the whole experience is laden with
huge trials and tribulations. The most common issues are traffic and stress.
Let us look within the limits of Thane city. Travelling anywhere in the city is a struggle especially during
the peak hours. Parking is another challenge with the growing number of
vehicles.
There are many long and short
term reasons – encroachment, arbitrary repairs like holes dug up, vehicle that
has broken down, irresponsible parking of a vehicle with the owner missing from
the site, or double parking, a driver driving slowly while speaking on the
phone, an auto-rickshaw driver settling the fare with the passenger, a slow
moving vehicle driving on the right most lane and the fundamental cause of
non-compliance with traffic rule. Well the list can go on and on.
There is one area where efforts
can be made to alleviate the situation of traffic and stress – developing
real footpaths or pedestrian system to actually walk on.
A huge portion of our population
walks due to reasons which range from economic condition to lack of adequate
public transport system and need to travel short distances. This is a common
trend across the country but sadly India lacks proper footpaths. People mostly
walk on the roads and that is a huge reason for slow moving traffic. People
cross the road anywhere they want. Zebra crossing is restricted to our civics
text books and few specific areas in cities.
Walking is the most common mode
of transport in average European cities. Most developed countries have
consciously built pathways thus encouraging people to walk. The ulterior motive
is to improve the quality of life of its citizens and visitors alike and of
course to keep a check on vehicular traffic. Look at Times Square in New York, Las
Ramblas in Barcelona, embankment by Siene River or Place Charles de Gaulle
again in Paris, Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich, downtown Shibuya Tokyo, Camden Street
or Trafalgar Square in London. There are numerous examples. It is time to
emulate them in this regard.
Footpaths serve multiple
purposes. They help the city remain cleaner by reducing pollution levels as
more people would prefer to walk. The walking in itself helps maintain our
health and a good infrastructure makes walking very less taxing. It also
reduces traffic congestion. Alternately, it is also less risky as chances of
being hit by a vehicle from behind are minimal on a footpath compared to
walking on the main road.
Thane also has its fair share of
footpaths. But many of them have been hijacked by hawkers or public toilets
have popped up on them thus rendering that area useless for walking. In other
areas, there are gaping holes as the gutter covers made of concrete or metal
are either broken or stolen. That makes footpath dangerous for walking
especially at night.
The future will slowly propel us
towards creating smart cities that are capable of making optimum use of
resources to provide a good life to the citizens. In my opinion, footpaths
would be one of the key development indicators.
