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It’s not easy to ‘walk on’ in Mumbai..........Puneet Nicholas Yadav
Mumbai may have its own skywalk, which no other Indian city can boast of, but it is by no means a pedestrian-friendly city.A study by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Delhi's “walkability” points out that even though 40% of the city's population takes “pedestrian trips”, the facilities are either crumbling or completely absent.
According to a 2005 study by the World Bank, Mumbai had more walkers (almost 43% of its population) than Delhi. Another survey done from 2005 to 2008 by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) estimated what in Mumbai is referred to as the “No.11s” (denoting the two walking feet) at 52%. DNA did a sampling of the streets of Mumbai to find out the pedestrian-friendly quotient. Well, for every Marine Drive promenade or a Race Course Road pavement, there are at least 10 horror footpaths for the pedestrians. In fact, there has been a campaign by a group of activists-pedestrians for better fare for the walkers. All that the CSE has to say for Delhi holds eerily true for Mumbai too. After having conducted a random survey of ‘walking facilities’ (factors like engineering design of roads, pedestrian facilities and safety) in Delhi, the CSE concludes, “Planning of all civic infrastructure projects begins and ends keeping the passenger car units in mind. Barring the city’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor, no road project has kept the pedestrian traffic in mind,” said CSE director Sunita Narain. “Obsession with seamless, signal free travel for vehicles through flyovers, expressways and elevated ways is disrupting direct routes of the walkers and increasing distances and travel time for them,” says the CSE report. The report says, “In many US and European cities, policies create fully pedestrian spaces. Studies show pedestrianisation of shopping areas has had positive effect on sales.” |
