BJP’s moral decline in Mumbai led to suburban train deaths
In Mumbai the then Jana Sangh, the precursor of the BJP, came up from scratch in the 1960s through popular struggles like taking up the issues of Mumbai’s suburban train…
Public Transport
Karl Marx is important for all, Paris Marx is a guide for urban transport
The BJP has scored a big if questionable win in the just held legislative assembly elections in Maharahtra. But the state administration has scored a self goal or shot itself…
Why Metro rail is a failure, look what Nobel economics prize winners say
We can better understand the transport and traffic crisis in India through the lens of Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, James Robinson who have just won the Nobel prize in economics…
Urban planners seem to serve builders, not common people
Our urban planning and executive authorities seem to be doing more harm than good. CIDCO, city and industrial development corporation of Maharashtra is more brazen in being pro-builder, against the…
Adani’s project harming public transport in Mumbai
In helping Adani make huge profits through the Dharavi slum redevelopment project in Mumbai the authorities are harming public transport and also shooting themselves in the foot. In a…
The rich are protecting their spaces, the working class should fight for its own
The arrogance and extreme incompetence of the Metro railway and municipal authorities is increasingly becoming obvious. In Bangalore a farmer was denied entry into the Metro station last week on…
Senior citizen wins fight against private bus company
Shekhar Hattangadi is a senior journalist with experience in the U.S. and India, is also a film maker and he is proficient in law.. He has won a significant judgement…
The sea bridge Modi opened denies access to common people
Front page photographs in newspapers today of Prime Minister Modi standing alone in the middle of the sea bridge in Mumbai are quite ironic.The irony is that ordinary people will…
Economist journal Says India’s Metro Rail Network is poorly planned and is in a mess
A recent issue of the well-known international journal Economist exposes the Indian government’s misleading claims about the Metro rail network in the country. Not one of the Metro lines in…
Government pampers motorists, humiliates bus, train riders
Everyone should feel deeply concerned over this report in the Times of India by Somit Sen today about the serious crisis in the BEST bus undertaking in Mumbai, its fleet…
Infrastructure projects for the rich, dust and suffocation for the poor
After listening carefully to a presentation made by MMRDA commissioner Sanjay Mukherjee last evening one would say that life will be getting much worse for common people in the coming…
What Mumbai can learn from Delhi
Mumbai, the pioneer in the country in public transport, is now in a crisis mode, lagging behind Delhi in some respects. Our administrators should learn from this. During a visit…
You reach this conference in Delhi at the risk of your life
Crossing the road on foot to reach the venue of the international conference on public transport in Delhi was a near death experience last week. Every one knows this is…
Mumbai’s excellent public transport system being messed by the government
The Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar was nearly knocked down on the road by motor cyclists while he was on a morning walk in Patna recently. Fortunately, he sensed the…
Chalo App: A Boon to Public Transport Users
As a frequent traveller in and around Chennai, I have experienced the ups and downs of utilizing bus services, ranging from paid buses to pink-coloured buses free of charge exclusively…
Film on the ST bus,the lifeline of people
Maharashtra’s politicians have betrayed the masses on a massive scale . But one good decisions taken by the government before the recent filthy politics is that it introduced 50 per…
26 passengers charred on highway of death in Maharashtra
Twenty six passengers were charred to death beyond recognition when a private bus going from Nagpur to Pune crashed on the so called Samruddhi highway early hours this morning. This…
Motorists must pay for parking , can’t have free lunch
There is increasing protest in the U.S. against the craze for car parking. More space is being allotted for parking of cars than for houses because of wrong policies. The…
Metro authorities humiliating ordinary commuters
A seemingly good decision to provide free insurance to commuters of two lines on the Mumbai Metro is also highly discriminatory and almost insulting to suburban train and bus commuters.…
Modi needs to improve his understanding of public transport
We can expect little improvement in our urban transport system considering what could be termed as inadequate understanding of the issue shown by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his post…
Metro work causing havoc in Surat
Metro work causing havoc in Surat, in Mr Modi’s home state. In Mumbai bus transport is neglected. The prohibitively costly Metro rail project has caused disruption on a massive scale…
Must the motor car industry be so selfish, must the government neglect public transport ?
Mr R.C. Bhargava, the high profile chairman of Maruti Suzuki, and the likes of him owe an explanation to the public for the situation so visible in many places in…
The dangerous highway ride of Maharshtra CM and deputy CM
It is surprising that Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis embarked on the speed misadventure on the Samruddhi Mahamarg highway on December 4, so soon…
Urban affairs minister Puri needs to get a better grasp on public transport
I attended an international conference on urban transport mobility in Kochi last week from November 4 to 6. After listening to ministers, bureaucrats and others at this conference as well…
When officials sit meekly before angry farmers
It seems the government machinery which is so arrogant towards common people, listens only to voices of aggression. The officialdom sat meekly, almost scared yesterday on the dais in front…
More Trouble for Metro Rail in Indian Cities
The Metro rail network is failing miserably in different cities. In Bangalore steps to check the falling ridership of Namma Metro are not helping. Its daily pass scheme too has…
What Kind of Swachh Bharat and Modernisation Are We Creating?
What kind of Swachh Bharat and modern urbanisation we are creating ? Let us start with Bandra suburban station in Mumbai, one of the oldest and prized heritage stone …
Modi’s opening Pune Metro Rail shows poor Understanding of Public Transport
Narendra Modi, Prime Minister, unwittingly admitted today that the operation of Metro railway network in India is a failure. He was inaugurating short stretches of two Metro lines in Pune.…
Why is public transport not good enough to make private vehicle ownership unnecessary?
If the goal is to protect environment from automobile pollution, improve road safety, and end economic disparities in the society, then vehicle scrappage policy is not likely to deliver on…
They invite a good planner but do not follow his advice
Mr Durga Shankar Mishra, the secretary of the union ministry of urban affairs, says that his son, an architect, cycles seven km from his home to his office in Delhi…
Pedestrians, Bus users are real heroes, says Traffic police commissioner
It would be good if our politicians and bureaucrats did a little introspection like Bangalore’s traffic police commissioner Ravikanthe Gowda. He said he had not travelled by a bus for…
Why I did not renew my driving license?
Because I realized (better late than never) that it is government’s responsibility to provide safe, convenient, affordable, accessible and humane ways of commuting for all its citizens. When governments fail…
Government policies are worsening traffic problems, not solving them
Mumbai: Mr Nitin Gadkari, union road transport minister, is one of the more efficient ministers. He often comes up with innovative solutions like converting waste water and garbage to profitable…
Prominent Experts, Activists Call For Improving Public Transport
This luxury 24 storey high rise building represents an assault on the heart of Mumbai. This is in Mahim geographically the heart of the metropolis as Mahim connects the…
Public Transport: Some Models
I was impressed by the pleasant ambience of the Trivandrum railway station and the bus depot for long distance travel which is just across the road. This is how…
When People At The Top Get Into A Traffic Jam
One can understand the annoyance Maharashtra’s director general of police Satish Mathur faced last Monday when he was stuck in traffic for half an hour in the central business district…
China Should Be Our Model For Swachh Bharat, Public Transport
Beijing, the Chinese capital could well be a model for India’s Swachh Bharat mission of cleanliness. Toilets are everywhere in the city, I noticed during my two-week visit to…
10 Ways Vancouver Created A Greener, More Efficient Transportation System
In 2012, the city of Vancouver in Canada's British Columbia province set a lofty transportation goal — for people to make more than 50 percent of their trips in the city by foot,…
It Is Not Just Cash, Government Policies Hurt Us In Many Other Ways
The money crisis is more painful because of is suddenness. But the government has been causing hardships to citizens for years through various ways. One is the anti-people policy on…
New Technology Is Torturing The Commuter
Mumbai: Despite advances in technology, life is getting worse for users of public transport . This is at least partly because of the callous way the technology is being…
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