I recently met Mr. V.J. Ravi Gunaseelan,[1] an autorickshaw driver in Chennai for 22 years, and the president of the “All India Road Users Rights and Welfare Association,” a group working towards guaranteeing the rights of different kinds of road users. Our conversation touched upon two important aspects of commuting in Chennai.

First, I asked him about the one of the most frustrating aspects of traveling in the city – why the autos in Chennai don’t run on meters.

According to Mr. Gunaseelan, there have beensharp increases in fuel, tax maintenance and living costs. Because the government does not upgrade the metered fare regularly, it becomes unviable for the auto-drivers to stick to them.Chennai Central used to have a pre-paid auto booth, but the booth has now closed because the rate offered of Rs 9 per kilometer is too low for drivers. Auto drivers also face a lot of other costs. The government provides only a limited number of auto permits, which arethen sold in the black market at an exorbitant price.Auto drivers also pay aregular bribe or mamool to the police. If they refuseto pay, they are falsely fined for breaking rules.

High auto fares have had an impact on their business. Call taxis, which now have comparable fares as auto drivers charge, eat away a fair share of customers making it even more difficult for the auto drivers.Because auto fares are so high, people have taken to using share autos for trips wherever they are available.

I also asked him about thehistory of share autos in the city, and the problems they face in their operations.

Mr. Gunaseelan responded that congestion on buses and haggling for auto rides have increased the popularity of share autos. The term “share auto” means that a fixed fare will be charged for point to point commute. He said that this concept came into existence in 1994 in the Vadapalani- Porur route, andoperated illegally there for many years.

Mr. Gunaseelan argued that the state government then was not in favour of permitting share autos because it would reduce people’s dependence on public transport. But due to increasing demand for cheaper commutes, three wheeler share autos carrying 5 passengers and a driver were permitted.

There are also new four wheel vehicles manufactured by Tata and Mahindra which are now operating on many of the same routes as share autos.These are called maxi-cabs, and are registered as tourist taxis, and are commercial vehicles that are permitted to carry 7 passengers and a driver.These vehicles ply on routes which have high commuter traffic and complement the inconsistent and overcrowded bus services, especially during peak hours. Because these maxi-cabs are not licensed as share autos but operate as one, they end up paying daily fines of anywhere from Rs50 to Rs 200 to the police.

It was clear from my conversation with Mr. Gunaseelan that these share autos and maxi-cabs perform a much needed service in the city. They step in where the public transport falls short, and are now considered by most of the public as a form of public transport. According to a recent news article, there are now 5,300 maxi-cabs operating in the city, which cater to an estimated 30 lakh passenger trips a day. Surprisingly however, the Regional Transport Offices have stopped registering maxi-cabs for the past few months. It is a similar shortage of auto permits that forces auto drivers to hike up their rates. Will share autos and maxi-cabs soon become more expensive thanks to misguided government intervention?

– Roshan Toshniwal

The Chennai City Traffic Police has started an interesting new initiative. A Facebook page that the CCTP started last year has once again become active under the initiative of the motivated new Deputy Commissioner of Traffic Sanjay Arora. Every day, the CCTP updates their status multiple times, indicating where traffic is moving slowly, where buses have broken down, and answering people’s queries about arcane traffic rules. The page, like the Delhi Traffic Police page, also fines vehicles that are in violation of the rules based on photographs sent in by users.

On the whole, most people are big fans of the CCTP’s initiative, and are commending them for improving the information flow and for taking prompt action on citizen complaints about problems. However, the page also sees a fair amount of abuse from users, who complain about corrupt traffic cops, and complain (quite rightly) that illegal parking takes place because there is almost no legal parking in the city.

Whoever is updating the CCTP’s Facebook page seems also to be extremely frustrated with the system. One update said

“Some people have pointed out that, why a single car breaking down necessitates alternate route. Most of our roads are carrying many times more than their capacity. In another words they are really saturated and traffic moves very slowly during peak period even without any obstruction on the road. In such conditions even a single event like, vehicle break down, maintenances activity, accident, rain, funeral processes, marriage in nearby kalyanamandapam etc. have adverse impact on traffic and the cascading effect goes up to couple of kilometers including various connecting roads. … The concept of peak hour has also got extended to peak period with non peak period shrinking at a accelerated rate.”

You can almost hear the weary police officer sighing as he writes this!

On Friday, the CCTP announced a new initiative, in which free sms’s will be sent to all those who subscribe with regular traffic alerts of the sort given out on Facebook. (For those interested in these updates, send an SMS with the text “JOIN CTP” to the number 09219592195.)

It is unclear, though, how useful these updates will be. Will people avoid using certain junctions if they are backed up? Are there enough alternate routes and detours that will enable traffic jams not to proliferate if people are given advance warning?

For Transparent Chennai, what might be more interesting is to use the data collected here on traffic jams and bus breakdowns to see whether there are patterns emerging. Are there particular areas which get backed up all the time? And can we fix those places using better planning?

Nithya V Raman

In one of the earlier posts titled “Chennai Metro Rail: Is it the best solution to the city’s increasing traffic problem“, we had listed out a few concerns that CMRL would have to address in order to ease traffic congestion. Now, a new problem that has emerged is the acquisition of land. The Hindu reports that 30 hectares of land allocated to the CMRL for building the train depot at Koyembedu might not be sufficient. The design of the depot requires additional 5.5 hectares and sources state that  25 shops might be displaced in the process while 100 other shops will face inconvenience.

Other problems that the metro is likely to face in the future are the high operation/maintenance costs and high electricity bills. There is already a wide gap between the projected demand and current supply of electricity in Chennai and with the advent of metro, the rising deficits will inevitably be borne by the poor and marginalised sections of the society. Read article…

——

Roshan Toshniwal

The announcement of a comprehensive online passenger information system by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) comes as a relief for Chennai’s commuters. This information system promises to provide details of the routes, timings and bus stops.  A recent article in Hindu -

“The entire programme has been outsourced to Ascenso Telecom Solutions, which has agreed to offer the service free of cost in exchange for advertising rights…A senior MTC official told The Hindu that the proposed helpline would function like a call centre. Information about bus stops along a particular route number, origin and destination, journey time, fare details, and expected time of arrival at a particular bus stop will be available through the service.”

Every time Transparent Chennai’s team members set out  to collect complete bus routes information using GPS units, different sources told them about MTC’s plan to establish this information system. Transparent Chennai was advised to not replicate something that was going to be out in the near future. However, we still went ahead hoping that this exercise would highlight the urgent need for this kind of information and push the authorities to make it accessible. We managed to collect complete (each stop) information for 70 bus routes. We also repackaged MTC data so that commuters could view them on maps.

Image: Transparent Chennai’s Bus Routes Layer

As expected, this is the most celebrated feature of our website. Months or probably years have passed and MTC has still not activated its information system. Transparent Chennai hopes that this time the announcement is for real. Till then commuters can come to our website and access our bus routes information!

—————-

Somya Sethuraman

For most Chennai residents, using buses to travel within the city is inevitable. This means that you need to find out where the bus stop is, what bus number goes to your destination, what route the bus takes and where you have to get off. But in Chennai, unless you are a frequent bus traveller, this information can prove elusive. The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) currently does not offer an easily searchable map of bus routes in the city, or even a list of bus routes with all stops.

Transparent Chennai talked to the MTC to find out about how we can ease the access to such information. There are 650 bus-routes that are overseen by the MTC. The authorities at the MTC said that they did not have up-to-date maps for every bus route. Their website provides the names of all the main stages or depots that each route passes through. Unfortunately, this leaves out quite a bit of information. Each stage or depot is separated by roughly 2 km, and the website does not provide bus stop information. Users can search for routes that ply between particular stages that they identify from a drop down menu. While this is a start, residents do not always know the name of the closest depot near their origin or destination. The database also does not offer alternative options if there is no direct bus connecting these points.

This is why Transparent Chennai developed our new layer, a bus routes layer, using the bus stage data from the government, but repackaging it in a format that makes it far more useful. Commuters can just click on their origin and destination directly on the map to see all the routes that connect them. Check it out at: www.transparentchennai.com/buildamap/busroutestage/

But what about bus stops? Getting the names and locations of all the bus stops for these routes is a problem that we have been scratching our heads about for quite a few months. As far as we can tell, there are only two ways to get stop data for Chennai buses: To ask people, and to collect it manually ourselves.

We decided to try our hand at collecting and assembling comprehensive bus-route information ourselves. In the months of February, March and May of 2010, six interns from Stella Maris got into groups of two. At the beginning of every week, they compiled a list of buses that covered the city fairly well and seemed to be widely used. Then the interns set out, armed with a GPS unit, the bus numbers and some help from Google maps, and travelled the route from end to end. Every route took them roughly 3-4 hours and they marked bus stops on their GPS units, and, with the help of some very patient bus drivers and conductors, wrote down the stop name on a table. Everyday the bus-routes would be transferred from the GPS unit to our office computer, edited for errors and saved. The Transparent Chennai team covered over 70 routes in 7 weeks and also picked up random bus-route trivia. Did you know an ordinary 29C goes only up till Besant Nagar but a 29C Deluxe goes up to Thiruvanmiyur but via Adyar, not Besant Nagar?

Check out our routes complete with all bus stops here: www.transparentchennai.com/buildamap/busroutes

If you’re interested in helping us map all the bus stop information, please do get in touch with the Transparent Chennai team at tc@ifmr.ac.in, and for more updates on our work join our mailing list here.

Transparent Chennai

Join us this Saturday to clean up and map the Valmiki Nagar beach. This is a citizen based mapping project initiated by TC for the the Valmiki Nagar Residents Association. The goal of the exercise is to supervise volunteers whose aim is to create a detailed map of the valmiki nagar beach. In addition to this volunteers will be conducting a waste audit, whose results will be mapped. Both mapping efforts will finally be added to TC’s website.

Date: 15th January 2011
Place: Valmiki Nagar Beach (the beach opposite 4th seeeward road in Thiruvanmiyur)
Time: 5 P.M

Please email siddharth.hande@gmail.com to volunteer.

Thank you,

TC Team

1. An article in Hindu looks at Chennai’s increasing traffic woes and the response to this problem:

http://hindu.com/2010/12/21/stories/2010122161690200.htm

Building more and more flyovers can help ease traffic congestion only in the short run. Various studies have shown that flyovers actually increase congestion and the total number of  automobile trips made per day, in the longer run.

2. As new bicycle lanes appear in New York city, people complain about the loss of parking space and constricted traffic:

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/12/21/are-new-yorks-bike-lanes-working?ref=opinion

3. Worried about the increasing air pollution, France looks at alternate ways of reducing it: boat transport, eco friendly bicycles, strengthening public transport:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/156874.html

4. Government plans to restrict private cars in Dhaka to reduce traffic jam:

http://dhaka-rickshaw.blogspot.com/2009/09/call-for-restriction-on-growth-of.html

_______________________

Why are we the only ones looking at building flyovers at a time when the rest of the world is propagating environment and people friendly solutions? Why would we go for solutions that have actually failed in the past?

Somya Sethuraman

Reclaim our beaches is a  youth led movement to restore the sanctity of Chennai’s beaches. It started with a small group of students cleaning up the beach and creating awareness by asking the citizens to own up their garbage and not litter everywhere. On the eve of their first anniversary on Saturday, 18th December 2010, these young environmental activists were really determined to push forth their agenda by something they call ‘in the face clean up’. In the face clean up is an initiative to encourage the residents to keep the beach surroundings clean.

They received  a resounding response of a hundred and fifty plus people. As the ROB volunteers tread their path to clean they saw many people littering the beach area. The volunteers went up to them, picked the waste, gave them a look that made them feel guilty. Seeing this many people from the crowd volunteered to help out in the cleaning and the enthusiasm swept many strangers into becoming friends for a common cause.

ROB has been very active in demanding dustbins and more toilets on the beach as people are often seen polluting the place due to a lack of these basic amenities. The corporation has promised ROB to put the dustbins and toilets on the beach and have asked them for an aesthetically beautiful and financially feasible plan to maintain the beach stretch. The executive engineer and his colleague from the corporation also witnessed the clean up and were impressed. In the end, Mr. Nithyanand a famous environmental journalist, a friend and mentor of ROB, thanked everyone for their time and contribution and inspired the residents to keep the city clean and take this fruitful thought to more people.

—————————————-

Transparent Chennai recently collaborated with ROB on mapping the infrastructure on Elliots beach. A map showcasing the present infrastructure i.e; ( dustbins, public toilets, vendors etc) will be up on the website soon. A report based on the mapping exercise will also be drafted in due course and sent to the Corporation.

Please write to us with suggestions and feedback, and do join ROB in their beach clean ups. We have beautiful beaches in Chennai and all of us want it clean. Don’t we? For more information: http://letsrob.org/home/

By Roshan Toshniwal, Consultant, Transparent Chennai

Meryl Sebastian

It is being increasingly recognised that the overt emphasis on expressways and flyovers has resulted in a transport infrastructure that leans towards being motor vehicle friendly. The authorities seem to agree with this. The National Urban Transport Policy, CMDA’s Second Master Plan and Chennai’s City Development Plan recognise the need for pedestrian infrastructure and better public transport as an answer to the city’s road safety and traffic problems. But, this recognition has yet to translate itself into real action. On paper the authorities wax eloquent about centering transport policies around pedestrians, cyclists and frequent users of public transport. There are comprehensive ideas, plans and targets laid out to boost public transport.

But the Second Master Plan[1] reveals that the planned expenditure on medium-term transportation schemes is as follows-

Rs.6200 crores on 8 elevated highways,

Rs.850.12 crore on 18 flyovers,

Rs.45 crore on bridges,

Rs.1993.84 crore on link roads, and

Rs.3514.44 on improving the existing roads.

The plan estimates Rs.209 crore will be spent on pedestrian infrastructure, of which Rs.48 crore is for footpaths, the rest being spent on escalators and subways.

In May 2010, the Highways Minister told the Hindu[2] that ‘since 2006 a total of 104 ROB and rail underbridge projects to replace level-crossings, at a cost of Rs.2,246 crore, had been initiated.’

Highways Secretary G.Santhanam said that ‘tenders would be floated for 69 such projects in 2010-11 involving the Railways and in 2011-12 40 more had been planned’.

Pedestrians and cyclists form more than 40% of the average person trips. The Master Plan points out that 42% of road accidents involve pedestrians and 10% cyclists. Yet, the administration’s spotlight remains on flyovers. Currently, there are 14 Flyovers under construction in the city, of which the construction of 8 began in 2010. Several projects have been fastracked with flyovers at Nerkundram and Porur expected to be completed in 13 months instead of the standard 18. Flyovers at Maduravoyal, Koyembedu, Porur, Vadapalani, Mint and Moolakadai are slated to be completed by May 2011. [3]

One wonders at this sudden spurt of energy, one wonders at the frenzied constructions, then one thinks of the Assembly Elections of 2011. Flyovers are obvious signs of infrastructure and development activities taking place in the city. The authorities may hope that these flyovers cheerlead their achievements but whether the people are convinced is to be seen.

[1] Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, . “The Second Master Plan for Chennai Metroplitan Area 2026.”. CMDA, September 2008. Web. 3 Dec 2010. <http://www.cmdachennai.gov.in/SMP_main.html>.

[2] “Overbridge to be ready next month-end.” The Hindu, 21 May 2010, <http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/21/stories/2010052159990300.htm>

[3] “7 FLyovers to be ready.”  The Times of India 16 Feb 2010, <http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Layout/Includes/TOINEW/ArtWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOICH%2F2010%2F02%2F16&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T&PageLabel=2&EntityId=Ar00200&AppName=1>

I visited one of the Zonal offices today and while chatting up with the Health Inspector I came to know that health officers are patrolling in Chennai city to stop people from smoking in public.

If smokers are caught smoking in busy public areas of Chennai, or even with friends and family who are non smokers, a fine of Rs. 100 is slapped on them immediately. The Inspector told me that government officials are lenient about individuals smoking alone in not so busy areas.

What about the poor who do not have so much money in their pockets? These people are put in patrol vans, given a moral lecture about why they shouldn’t be doing it, and are then asked to go. However, they are dropped off at random locations so that it takes them a while to get back! What a punishment I say.

How can people be punished for a law that they aren’t even aware of? Ignorance of law is no excuse dear Chennaiites

Please refrain from smoking in public areas. While the law has existed for years, it looks like it is finally being enforced in Chennai.

- Somya Sethuraman