Fighting Traffic Chaos

Some years back when I came to City Beautiful ‘Chandigarh’ . Like everybody who comes here I fell in love with the place. For its planned Living,Gardens, Broad roads with trees along sides. There was hardly any traffic problem those days. There is a duet Punjabi songs which goes like :

“To drive on roads of Chandigarh is like, paper boat sailing on water flow” “The decorated round abouts are like , The embroidery done by you "

This was true some years back, when traffic was sparse.

Chandigarh is a heaven for students for its academic institutes,entrance coaching centers,training institutes.It has attracted students here like a magnate. Industry has also been set up here in Chandigarh/Panchkula/Mohali tricity. So almost every Punjabi youth comes here looking for a job. Industry also attracts/recruits people from all over India. Although the Industrial growth has not been so steep here relative to other cities.

Accumulation of people here has given rise to traffic chaos in the City Beautiful. To accommodate traffic administration has to cut down the trees along side one of the main roads to broaden it,has changed round abouts into traffic signals,has improved public transportation system. But still it is unable to contain the rising traffic. Driving at 8-9 PM has become like hell.

The workaround to fight traffic chaos which people like us can do is :

• Car Pooling for offices

• Increase Use of bikes and bicycles

• Better public transportation system

Car Pooling

In Western countries a concept of Car Pooling was stated way back Seventies . It has broadened to SMS based / Web Based Carpooling system, and is quite successful also.

In India MyKoolPool is such venture which provides Web/SMS based in Mumbai and Pune. Maybe there such venture like Commute Easy in Bangalore and other cities too . We have to give push to such ventures in our cities too and In City Beautiful Chandigarh so that it can be kept beautiful.

Using Bikes / Bicycles The economic rise has thwarted the use of cars, with exponential rate . Which has definitely made the traffic more chaotic than anything else. Using a bicycle for commuting is rare by people like us. Although it is common for laborers an economically weaker people. We need to start a bicycle riding campaign, Such that people like us make lesser use of motor vehicles for common commuting , like visiting nearby places or offices. Yes I know, there is status conscience setup in our psyche, That is the only reason we don’t use bicycles anymore. But It will be great if we can change this status conscienceness. Use of bicycle has many advantages like :

• Zero Pollution , It has no Carbon emission.

• Lesser traffic , It does not need a Broad Road .

• Better health, Cycling is a good Exercise for body

Yes , Bicycle is non feasible for commuting to longer distances, But use of motor bike is still more traffic friendly , than a car.

Personally i use a mix of Bicycle and Motor Bike for commuting . I go to office on a bicycle and sometimes on the motor bike. In my previous organization which was near to my living place. I always used bicycle for commuting there. And mind you I was not labeled psycho or My status qoutiont was not questioned. It was welcomed by most of my friends actually. I have inspired One of my friend to ride bicycle. there are 3-4 more guys in my new organization which commute on bicycle. But we are quite a small no. people. We need to start a campaign such that It becomes a trend to ride to office on a bicycle. It is quite common in some of European countries.

Come On , Ride Bicycle a day and Keep the Doctor Away. :)

Public Transportation The public transportation system is quite messy in almost all the cities. Either the buses/trains are crowded with passengers, or the the time taken to reach the destination is quite long. I Wish If we can make public transportation system such that it gives one preference over using Car to commute. It is only possible if the

• buses/trains are made high on comfort.
• Better routes to the common destinations

Moreover for commuting to office locations , Initiative needs to be taken for Public/Private partnership. Although some corporates have there private commuting vehicles. but they are not much effective. People prefer personnel vehicles over them. I hope public-private partnership can provide a better alternative. As small enterprises can also afford to tie up with public transportation system.

Happy Commuting, People :)

Crossposted from https://jasdeepsingh.wordpress.com/2008/04/20/how-to-fight-traffic-chaos/

Comments:

Blogathon India : Fighting Traffic Chaos by Jasdeep - Apr 0, 2008

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Thanks Jasdeep, I am possibly more rural than most pendoos. I have RajBrar in my ipod. But eh slip ho geya hona. Regards

@Manpreet Its great. Good to see a pendoo blogger around.. I thought u r located abroad, It seems u r in Ludhiana wow, you just read Mera Dagestan thats great. Will look further for your posts. Cheers !

Jasdeep, Your page is brilliant (though coming from a non-computer-geek background, I couldnt understand many things). This post on traffic chaos is amazing. However, I have commuted in Chandigarh between 8-9 pm and it is very quiet and nice at that time around. Perhaps you meant 8-9 am which really is maddening due to the work rush hour. And also enlighten me on the original words in Punjabi of the song you have quoted: “To drive on roads of Chandigarh is like, paper boat sailing on water flow” “The decorated round abouts are like , The embroidery done by you “ Though I remember the other songs like “Chandigarh kothi paa de, pinda wich udd’di dhoorh wey,” and “Chandigarh rehn waliye, assi peindu nahi dilaa’n de maadey”, this one that you quoted somehow has slipped out of my memory. Enlighten please.

Just a correction in the last sentence: this one that you quoted has somehow* slipped out of my memory. Enlighten please.

Hi Manpreet, Its good you liked the post . The quoted words are from Punjabi duet by Raj Brar, Album named “Desi Pop”. It was targetted at Rural audience , So you might have not chance to listen to it. Song goes like : “Sarhkaan Chandigarh Shehar deeaan , Paani te tarda thaal jiven .. Chowkaan vich decoration nee, hove kaddiaa tera rumaal jiven " Check the full song here at http://music.pz10.com/album/194/Desi%20Pop-Raj%20Brar.html Song Name “Dass Kehde Aasre "

thanks for visiting

Ho sakey ta is nu wi check karna. www.manmahesh.wordpress.com