this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2025
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Fuck Cars

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From what I understand, this is supposed to be the most elite city in India. But it has bad urban planning.

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[–] afk_strats@lemmy.world 67 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Should have built one more lane

[–] n3m37h@sh.itjust.works 25 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Maybe a tunnel to go under the highway??

[–] LyD@lemmy.ca 30 points 4 months ago

Get rid of those damned bike lanes in a totally different part of the city too!

[–] Humanius@lemmy.world 33 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (4 children)

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.

[–] brotundspiele@feddit.org 17 points 4 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 4 months ago

Or add a first class that is luxurious.

[–] emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] brotundspiele@feddit.org 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 months ago

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.

[–] itkovian@lemmy.world 14 points 4 months ago

Actually, you are correct. And I absolutely despise driving, so I am pretty much a contrarian in India.

[–] nutbutter@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 4 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] Humanius@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

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.

[–] kirk781@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 4 months ago

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.

[–] JimVanDeventer@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] crmsnbleyd@sopuli.xyz 4 points 4 months ago

Yes, more buses are needed

[–] Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca 23 points 4 months ago

If only train technology had been invented.

[–] Glitch@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 4 months ago

I guess we could try adding another lane or two, that should just about do it

[–] itkovian@lemmy.world 15 points 4 months ago

Indian cities pretty much all have pretty terrible urban planning. It stems from deep-rooted corruption, no long-term vision in the government, among many other factors.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 9 points 4 months ago

I would imagine that first responders in that city have an extremely high turnover rate.

[–] n3m37h@sh.itjust.works 8 points 4 months ago

Looks like the 401

[–] crmsnbleyd@sopuli.xyz 8 points 4 months ago

Gurgaon is the shittiest, most soulless city of India

[–] TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] Humanius@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago

It also looks highly inefficient

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago

this is supposed to be the most elite city in India.

Mumbai disliked that.

[–] sad_detective_man@leminal.space 4 points 4 months ago

so is the work commute over in time for their next shift?

[–] drunkpostdisaster@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

Its like two beautiful streams of light flowing beside each other. I wonder how many folks passed away in that.

[–] gramie@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 months ago

That looks awful, but to be fair I have been driving on Highway 401 at the end of a long weekend (I'm usually going in the opposite direction, thank God), and the slowdowns start about 100 km from Toronto.

In Japan, on holidays like Golden Week, you sometimes get an entire highway, 75 km or more, stopped.

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

From what I understand, this is supposed to be the most elite city in India.

In developing countries, trees of high rise buildings and skyscrapers, and veins of crisscrossing motorways are the sign of modernity. While developed countries had a headstart and thus experienced how bad this kind of city design is, many poorer countries are still just catching up and they see what US and other Western countries look like on the media and tell themselves "we will be like that".

[–] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 4 months ago

The weird thing is the few lanes going right that are actually flowing normally. I guess the jam in that direction is all people trying to exit? The flowing sparse traffic looks out of place with all the jams around it.

[–] altphoto@lemmy.today -2 points 4 months ago

If you pay close attention each lane has cars bright lights in one direction and red tail lights in the other direction!

That's crazy!