Commute

After a gap of over five months, Chennai Metro trains is back on track. The Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has decided to resume rail services in different phases. In the first phase, the Blue Line, between Airport Metro Station and Washermenpet Metro Station, resumed on September 7th. In the second phase, the Green line, plying between St Thomas Mount and Puratchi Thalaivar Dr M G Ramachandran Central Metro), will be operational from September 9th. Train services will run at 5-minute frequency during peak hours and 10-minute frequency during non-peak hours. The CMRL has introduced several measures for ensuring the…

Namma Metro has prepared an exhaustive list of dos and don'ts for passenger safety since services resumed Monday. But it has no standard procedure or frequency for cleaning and sanitising its coaches. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd authorities said that their housekeeping staff have been trained to sanitise coaches at regular intervals from the starting point to the termination point of a trip. But they did not specify the frequency with which the cleaning procedures would be carried out. One official said that the frequency would depend on the availability of staff. The corporation said it was employing their own…

At least one pedestrian life in Hyderabad was lost every other day in 2019.   In total, 602 pedestrians lost their lives on the roads of Hyderabad between 2017 and 2019. More than half of them (52.4%) were hit by vehicles while crossing the road. A few others were victims of road crashes as they went about their morning walk, or while waiting for a bus or other modes of transport by the side of the road. And at least 14 children, all under 10 years of age, got hit by vehicles while playing by the roadside during this period.  The…

[This article is part of the Bengaluru Moving series, in which citizens share their vision for BMTC post COVID. In this article, two researchers share their findings on easing bus commute for people with disabilities. The series is published in collaboration with Radio Active’s #BengaluruMoving campaign.] Accessible and affordable public transport is central for persons with disability to lead dignified and active lives. Routine activities like work, healthcare, buying essential goods and maintaining a social life, are all dependent on their access to transport infrastructure. Despite international charters like the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2008),…

There is joy, and there is concern tinged with fear and uncertainty. “Get ready for the next wave of infection transmission... Reason... Metro opened for all. When there were 200 per day cases, everything was closed. Now when it's 77,000 cases per day, government plans to open Metro. Can somebody explain the rationale??” asked one tweet when DMRC on August 29 went public with #MetroBackOnTrack Finally, after a gap of more than five months and a week, the metro stations and coaches of the National Capital Region will see people who are willing to go through the restrictive, controlled and strictly…

On August 24, five months after Cubbon Park was made traffic-free, the Horticulture Department said that traffic would be allowed here again. This was despite BBMP passing the traffic-free Cubbon Park proposal on June 30 and the impassioned appeals of citizen groups like Heritage Beku. For years, activists have been striving for a pedestrian-friendly Bengaluru but evidence suggests there is a long way to go. With its ill-equipped infrastructure for pedestrians, Bengaluru has the third-highest number of pedestrian fatalities among the top eight Indian metros. Pedestrian injuries and fatalities also account for the majority of road accidents in the city.…

[This article is part of the Bengaluru Moving series, in which citizens share their vision for BMTC post COVID. In this article, two researchers share their findings on easing bus commute for older adults. The series is published in collaboration with Radio Active’s #BengaluruMoving campaign.] For many older adults in Bengaluru, the bus is not just a transport mode. Their nostalgia surrounding the bus is immense. Older adults share memories of using the erstwhile Bangalore Transport Service (BTS) bus to go to work, to visit the lush green Cubbon park on weekends; going to Majestic to catch a bus to…

While the fear of COVID-19 drives commuters' aversion to mass public transport, IOT-based two-wheeler rental start-ups are drawing this segment of intra-city commuters to their personal transport-based platforms. Sensing an opportunity, they are ramping up their network of pick-up and drop-off points, raising employee and vehicle sanitation and increasing their fleet of pre-sanitized scooters and electric bikes. To make the prospect attractive and reduce their logistical burden (read, frequent sanitisation) they are even offering longer contracts. New commuting needs Admitting that the market had "flipped", operators say that they had to wake up to new commuting needs and commuter expectations…

For the first time, the demand for cycles in Ahmedabad has overtaken supply. One of the happy fallouts from the civil mess that COVID-19 has caused. Ahmedabad is now reporting over 100% hike in average sales, with most new models being pre-booked. “All kinds of bikes from pleasure to professional, including mountain, hybrid and kids bikes have seen a huge spike in demand,” said Aditya Sharma, an administrator with the Decathlon Cycling community. “For the first time, people have to wait for the model or colour of the bike they want.”  “We are out of stock of many models,” added…

The majority of road accident victims in Bengaluru are pedestrians. An analysis of road crash deaths in 2017 by the NGO Footpath Initiative showed that 44% of the victims were pedestrians. As per their data, between 2010 and 2018, over 3000 pedestrians have been killed in traffic crashes in the city, and four times as many have been injured. Given the poor state of pedestrian infrastructure like footpaths, it isn't surprising that pedestrian deaths are so high. Anusha Chutturi of Footpath Initiative said their data showed that areas with better footpaths had fewer pedestrian accidents. She said, "The areas around…