Today's traffic mess Causes, Implications & Solutions Substantiated with facts and illustrative images by Dasarathi G V, HasiruUsiru [email_address]

The current strategy Widen roads to keep pace with traffic Traffic population is doubling every 5 years. Road space needs to double every 5 years. Not logical.

Traffic population is doubling every 5 years.

Road space needs to double every 5 years.

Not logical.

Bangalore 2015 ? Road widening to keep pace with vehicle population is stupid. Congestion in 20-lane road in LA, USA. LA smog in background.

A cartoon is worth a 1000 slides?!

The traffic The biggest cause of environmental destruction in Bangalore Trees cut, heritage buildings destroyed for road widening. 70 % reduction in green cover in last 40 years. Pollution 3-5 times acceptable limits in many places. Garden city ? Joke aa swamy ?

Trees cut, heritage buildings destroyed for

road widening.

70 % reduction in green cover in last 40 years.

Pollution 3-5 times acceptable limits in many

places. Garden city ? Joke aa swamy ?

http://www.ecocenter.org/dust/ToxicAtAnySpeed.pdf Think you are safe in your car ? PBDEs (fire retardants in plastics) cause neuro-developmental damage, thyroid hormone disruption and liver toxicity. Phthalates (in fabric softeners) cause birth defects, impaired learning, liver toxicity, premature births, and early puberty. Your car has large amounts of both these. Levels of Carbon Monoxide, a highly poisonous gas, can be up to 10 times higher in the car than outside. Levels of toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can be 4-5 times higher. Think again!

The present strategy results in … Rise in asthma and other illnesses Temperature rise and volatile climate conditions due to emissions Lose of greenery Every day, 3 die and 21 get injured in accidents.

The solution: Cycle+Bus+Walk Replace private transport with public transport (buses, NOT auto rickshaws) and cycling. * The only solution that will work in the long term.

What about the Metro? Only people in this band will use the Metro in 2012. 5 % of Bangalore. Costs Rs. 100000 Cr. for city-wide coverage.

Metro : 100-year project Bangalore London Paris London, Paris, New York took more than 100 years to build city-wide coverage.

The Bus is the solution During rush hour A car or bike has 1 person A bus has 75 people There are 150 vehicles on this flyover, carrying 150 people.

There are 75 vehicles between each pair of red lines, carrying 75 people.

If we get each group of 75 people out of their private vehicles and into a bus, This is what happens.

Road space used by a person in a bus is: 3 % of a person in a car 5 % of a person in a 2-wheeler Congestion Congestion ?

The logic already works 38 Lakh people in 5000 buses occupy this much road space (0.5 %)‏ Proportionately 32 Lakh people in 32 Lakh private vehicles occupy this much road space.

Buses win, worldwide More popular than Metros. Used in 100s of cities worldwide, in developed and developing countries

In sum Road widening is stupid, harmful Metro is too long term, too costly The best solution Bus for long commutes Cycling, walking for short commutes   

Without destroying Bangalore Reduce No. of vehicles by 75 % Commute time by 30 % Pollution by 80 % Spending on roads by 90 % Increase spending on Water, Medicare, Education, Power

Which lifestyle do we want ? Our cars and bikes have given us this 1

Which lifestyle do we want ? 2 Bus + cycling + walking can give us this

Convert to this new religion. Today. Cycle + Bus + Walk ! Every week, allocate at least two days to CBW.

Web site http:// hasiruusiru.org/joomla / Contact Vinay Sreenivasa [email_address] OR Roshni Nuggehalli [email_address] For more information, or if you want to join a group that's working towards solving Bangalore's traffic problem