Fifty-five-year-old Gnana Bharathi, a scientist at the Central Leather Research Institute and a wheelchair user for over two decades, rarely takes the bus anymore. Chennai’s bus stops and termini, he says, are designed in a way that makes independent travel “nearly impossible”— from reaching the stop safely, to getting onto the platform and finally boarding the bus — without physical risk. So, when the Greater Chennai Corporation declared the Vivekananda House Bus Stop on Kamarajar Salai as an accessible, ‘model bus stop’, he decided to try it.“When I arrived at the location in my wheelchair, I couldn’t even access the…

Maximum City, Glamour City, City of Dreams, City of Struggles — Mumbai wears many names and identities. One of the world's most populous cities, it houses a staggering 2.17 crore people in just 603 square kilometres. Its carrying capacity in terms of accommodating a workforce was exceeded a decade ago, yet the daily inflow continues. Sky-high, artificially inflated real estate prices have pushed many to the distant suburbs, making the daily commute for work or study an arduous struggle. And yet the mobility solutions that the city administration and other powers that be come up with are not only inadequate,…