If there are enough luxury buses on roads, people will stop using cars

Gurgaon, a city on the threshold of becoming a metropolis, is growing at a pace no one would have imagined a decade ago. However, unfinished roads, traffic snarls and lack of an effective public transport in new sectors are holding up its further growth. In the series — Give Gurgaon Its Due — TOI took a hard look at the problems and tried to present what needs to be done.

And at the TOI Town Hall with Union minister for road transport, highways, shipping, water resources and Ganga rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari, stakeholders in Gurgaon’s growth, from realtors to RWAs and CEOs to members of civil society, got an opportunity to discuss with the minister issues that concern the city the most. A lowdown.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT | MINISTER’S VIEW

Should be cost-effective and pollution free. A BEST (Mumbai) diesel bus costs Rs. 10 per 1km, AC buses in Nagpur cost Rs 78 per 1km, but an AC electric bus will cost Rs. 50 per 1km. In Gurgaon, ticket prices will drop by 30%, if AC electric buses are introduced. And if there are enough luxury coaches on roads, people would stop taking their cars out.

“The state government and municipal corporation must be more proactive in introducing new technology and innovative models.”

LACK OF CYCLE TRACKS | MINISTER’S VIEW
Follow the Singapore example (being replicated in Nagpur). A cycle app allows the rider to pick up a cycle anywhere, and take it wherever he or she wants to go. After reaching the destination, he or she can leave the cycle by the side, and it gets locked automatically. When a new rider comes by, the cycle gets unlocked on the app.

“Wherever new roads and highways are being built, cycle tracks should be incorporated into them.” (NH-24 — India’s first 14-lane highway — has a cycle track on each side, with a width of two-and-a-half metres).

DEADLY HIGHWAYS | MINISTER’S VIEW
Road engineering needs improvement, to help bring down the number of accident ‘black spots’ and save lives. And, automobile makers need to become more safety conscious, by engineering cars with more safety features. Educate people on the rules of the road. Don’t use a mobile phone while driving, wear a helmet, don’t jump red lights.

“This is not about politics, it’s about saving lives.”

FAKE LICENCES | MINISTER’S VIEW
With some 2,000 training institutes being set up across the country, you will no longer have to go to the road transport office (RTO) to get a licence. At any of these ‘schools’, a yellow light will indicate to any driver who reaches the final part of the driving test, that s/he has passed. And if a licence isn’t issued within three days, the competent authority will be fined.

“Around 30% of licences in India are bogus, (so) this will help bring down corruption.”

AIR & NOISE POLLUTION | MINISTER’S VIEW
Panels on elevated roads and flyovers to reduce noise pollution, so that the din of traffic doesn’t enter houses, offices, hospitals and schools. Since the biggest cause of pollution is construction, owing to cement mixing, it is mandatory to use precast concrete in construction. Planting trees and landscaping lawns can help get rid of all that dust on and around roads, dust that picks up whenever cars pass.