Fuck Cars
A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!
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I may be misinformed, but I have the impression that India one of those countries where owning a car and driving is seen as a status symbol. Once you are able to afford a car, you don't want to be seen using the train with the paupers.
So while the public transportation system is extensive in many Indian cities, people will still choose to commute by car and be stuck in endless traffic.
There's a simple solution for this: Make public transport more expensive, until owning a monthly ticket and taking the bus is considered a status symbol again.
Or add a first class that is luxurious.
This already exists - Metro systems are usually much more expensive than bus / suburban rail, so 'posh' people use them. Some suburban trains also have a 'First Class' compartment.
Usually as in "Usually in India"? Because where I'm from, I've never heard of Metro being more expensive than bus or suburban rail. On the contrary, as ticket prices are often determined per distance travelled, suburban rail will usually be more expensive.
The class system on the other hand does exist here.
Yes. In India rail (both suburban and unreserved inter-town) is the cheapest - about a rupee per 4 km, rounded up to the nearest 5 or 10. Even reserved (sleeper) train tickets are quite cheap - about a rupee per 2 km. But only big cities have suburban rail.
Bus is next, the rates vary a lot from state to state, but you can expect to pay over a rupee per km. They operate everywhere, even in small towns and most villages.
Metros are air-conditioned and have automatic doors, security cameras, etc., and are the most expensive, something like 2-10 rupees per km depending on city and distance.
Actually, you are correct. And I absolutely despise driving, so I am pretty much a contrarian in India.
Not anymore. Chandigarh, a capital city of 2 states in India, has more cars registered than the total population (there are multiple reasons for that).
Almost every household in the national has at least one hatchback. Many people are also copying Americans, now, like buying small trucks, just for showing off.
Both things can be true at the same time
While cars may have come down in price (or wages gone up) to the point where the average person can reasonably afford one, people can still view a car as a status symbol because historically it was expensive to obtain. That combination would result in utterly congested roads.
Bangalore has more registered cars than people living there as well, IIRC. And it's worse there because Chandigarh is Atleast a planned city ( the only planned one India built from scratch post Independence) but Bangalore mushroomed exponentially after the IT boom of 90s.
As for Gurgaon, it's tragedy that only a small circular Rapid Metro runs there. Rest of Delhi has Atleast multiple lines.
Transit is packed too; it’s not that it isn’t also at maximum rider capacity much of the time. There’s just a lot of people.
Yes, more buses are needed