Op Ed: Parking Policy in India

It has been four years since I moved to the US, but I am still amazed by the amount of parking spaces available everywhere. This is a far cry from the parking situation in India, where every trip made by car has to account for an additional hour or two spent in traffic jams and looking for a parking spot. Indian cities are experiencing an exponential increase in traffic demand and the increased spending power is adding to more cars on the road. Currently, India is the eleventh largest passenger car market having recorded domestic sales of over 1.9 million cars in the country in the year 2009-2010(1)! Parking policies in India are struggling to keep up with the growing demand. This op-ed will examine the problems and focus on some possible solutions to India’s parking problems from around the world.

A common scene in urban India

Op-Ed: Saving the Cycle Rickshaw

Growing up in India, I’ve used about nine different modes of transportation to get to school every day. My favorite was the Cycle Rickshaw (or the pedicab), as the operator (the rickshaw cyclist?) would sometimes let my friends and I take turns driving it back home. With the advent and subsequent monopoly of motorized and faster modes of travel on Indian roads, the Cycle Rickshaw population is dwindling. Increasingly, they are being banned from cities due to their poor integration with motorized traffic and deteriorating public image. In this post, I’ll talk about the problems faced by this mode, why they are a critical component for the Indian city, and some innovative grassroots initiatives focused on bringing back the Cycle Rickshaw.

Cycle Rickshaws on a busy road

Tracking High Speed Rail in India

For nearly thirty years, India has been toying with the idea of implementing High Speed Rail along major corridors to maintain global relevance and to increase connectivity to boost business and tourism. It looks like India is, finally, on track to get its very first high-speed rail line, albeit at least ten years from now. The HSR made headlines last week when the French National Railways, SNFC, announced that the technical feasibility studies for the Mumbai – Ahmedabad line (and 5 other lines), it is helping the Indian Government conduct, is nearing completion. The construction for this line is expected to begin after ironing out financial details like pricing, etc. and is expected to take 10 years to complete. Each line is expected to cost $600 Billion to construct.

High Speed Rail for India?

New Delhi's BRT Woes

The New Delhi BRT has been courting controversy in India since its inception in 2008. As yet another public interest litigation was filed a few days ago to scrap the BRT, I decided to take a look at the myriad controversies surrounding the BRT in New Delhi and introduce the Wall Street Journal’s take on why it might still be a good idea to have faith in a BRT system.

The first BRT line