|
| Subir Roy: An affordable ride | | Kolkata?s buses and auto-rickshaws are not pretty but they serve the purpose |
| Subir Roy / New Delhi Nov 27, 2009, 00:31 IST |
|
If the essence of democracy and a plural society is diversity, then the transport system in Kolkata wins easily. If there is a prize for anarchic expansion in which a hundred flowers are allowed to bloom in a lax regulatory environment, then too the city wins hands down. In public we all like to put our best foot forward, put on a better shirt even if we are to go out to the neighbourhood shop for a little something. But when it comes to public transport, or for that matter, appearances in general, the city couldn’t care less.
Take buses. There are foremost the ubiquitous and preponderant private buses, mostly in various shades of blue, made up of thin gauge, easily dentable metal exteriors, with varying interiors ranging from the ancient to the surprisingly clear-cut modern. Then there are the mini buses — in dirty maroon brown — which are also private but not to be confused with the private buses.
Thereafter come the various state agencies. The good old Calcutta State Transport Corporation is barely visible but refuses to die. Unnoticed because its buses are the most battered, with the paintwork in various shades of colourlessness and the interiors dark with grime. Nevertheless, it is present and it often turns out to be the rescuer when no other agency seems to be around. Ancient routes bearing simple numbers like 5, 6 and 2B, which you think have long departed, exist and keep reappearing, defying the laws of mortality. Plus there is the oddity of buses run by Calcutta Tramways Company, the tram company, obviously put out to make work for their staff who don’t have trams to run. And there is also the West Bengal Surface Transport whatever, don’t ask me the precise name, which sports the odd buses now and then.
This should be variety enough but now and then, on just a few routes, you still see the odd tram, clanking and virtually empty but plying nevertheless. And, of course, there is the metro rail, whose service gets disrupted often ever since it was extended in the south, looking well-worn and bedraggled, but operational and carrying huge numbers of commuters nevertheless.
We are not finished yet. There is the massive onslaught of auto-rickshaws or three-wheelers, which have created unbearable noise pollution and traffic congestion in narrow suburban streets. Add to this the older, more sedate cycle-rickshaw, which has withdrawn on the face of the auto-rickshaw onslaught on many streets but is surviving nevertheless.
And, of course, on a few side streets in the inner city, hidden from public gaze out of embarrassment, somewhat like the way a new village bride shyly hides her face with the end of her sari, still lives the old rickshaw, pulled by sinewy men looking old for their age. To complete the list, you still have the signature black and yellow ambassador taxis, with rattling bodies and misshapen seats redone locally, disproving the law that only the fittest will survive.
Fascinatingly, this enormous range of choices makes for one of the most affordable urban public transport systems in the world which actually works. It is unlovely, mostly dirty, raucous and the opposite of being smart or presentable but delivers the basics. Bus fares in most major cities are about the same for short distances, but as soon as journeys get a bit longer, Kolkata offers a bargain. Delhi, which has to live with long distances and where fares have gone up lately, would be unaffordable to Kolkata’s travelling public. Even a metro rail journey, in non-airconditioned grubbiness, costs a fraction of what it does in Delhi.
I found out all this when on a longish stay in Kolkata recently I got tired of exorbitant taxi rides which were no time-savers and decided to find out what mass public transport was like. And there I met with a big surprise. Buses today are less crowded than what they were 10 years ago; there are simply so many more. And places which were considered to be too far from metro rail stations have now been brought within the network, courtesy the shared auto rickshaw in a very Indian version of multi-modal transport.
Earlier, when travelling south, you took the metro to Tollygunge and buses to Jadavpur but expert advice had me standing in a queue outside the Tollygunge station and reaching Jadavpur in less than 15 minutes through the narrowest inner roads — a journey that would have taken at least half an hour by taxi. The auto-rickshaws have destroyed the peace of quiet neighbourhoods and the traffic on the inner roads is now appalling but still, you make the journey.
These auto-rickshaws, buses and smoke-belching taxis should have added to the pollution but a strange thing has happened. A recent high court order has banned all machines over 15 years old from the city. Initially after this, the queues at the auto rickshaw stands were longer but a good number of new auto-rickshaws and taxis are to be seen and the air in the city does feel a little cleaner. Pollution will certainly catch up and the fine new buses, courtesy Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) will soon bear the usual battered look, but right now Kolkata is a slightly more affordable and livable city than earlier.
There is an urban management lesson in this. If you put together a demanding public, choices and minimum regulation and shake well, you will likely get a more affordable people-friendly concoction.
subir.roy@bsmail.in
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Read Business news in |  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Advertisements |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Content Guide
