Metro: bicycle friendliness
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Kanishka Lahiri
Mar 8, 2009, 10:08:44 PM3/8/09
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Much as we may not agree with the metro, it's happening and will be a part of bangalore's commuter infra in the future. We have raised questions about bicycle parking at metro stations, bicycle rentals etc, but perhaps these are not the most critical questions to ask. If we want bicycling properly integrated with the metro, the necessary option would be to enable users to carry their bicycles onto the trains.
Should we step up some effort to see if the designers are thinking about this, and if not (which is almost a certainty), try to make this happen? We can petition BMRCL to include this in their plans, try and get support from captive and other cyclists, etc. Might be a good way to establish contact with the captive cyclist community. For instance, we could add this question to the survey we are conducting.
Kanishka.
Dasarathi
Mar 8, 2009, 10:23:27 PM3/8/09
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Good idea. I think we should get Praveen and Murali
to conduct a cyclists' meet with the Metro guys, like the earlier
cycling workshop that they did.
Das
Das
vinay sreenivasa
Mar 9, 2009, 12:10:07 AM3/9/09
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| well..although it sounds crazy..i still have'nt given up on the hope that maybe we can stop the metro still:-) so i dont want to engage with the metro at this point of time.. but i do understand that we need to engage with metro to make it bicycle friendly..it doesnt have to be now though, right? we can do it even next year..i mean metro rolls out only in 2011..so i think its really fine to hold on for some more time. The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. - Chief Seattle, Chief of the Suquamish Indians --- On Mon, 9/3/09, Dasarathi <d...@cadem.com> wrote: |
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Anush Shetty
Mar 9, 2009, 12:15:31 AM3/9/09
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On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 9:40 AM, vinay sreenivasa
<vinay.sr...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> well..although it sounds crazy..i still have'nt given up on the hope that
> maybe we can stop the metro still:-)
>
> so i dont want to engage with the metro at this point of time..
>
> but i do understand that we need to engage with metro to make it bicycle
> friendly..it doesnt have to be now though, right? we can do it even next
> year..i mean metro rolls out only in 2011..so i think its really fine to
> hold on for some more time.
>
<vinay.sr...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> well..although it sounds crazy..i still have'nt given up on the hope that
> maybe we can stop the metro still:-)
>
> so i dont want to engage with the metro at this point of time..
>
> but i do understand that we need to engage with metro to make it bicycle
> friendly..it doesnt have to be now though, right? we can do it even next
> year..i mean metro rolls out only in 2011..so i think its really fine to
> hold on for some more time.
>
But the trees are still being chopped. The KR Road looks like a
desert. Its super hot. The weavers and craftsmen have moved to a shaft
from their tree shelters. They must be boiling in the hot sun.
vinay sreenivasa
Mar 9, 2009, 12:18:26 AM3/9/09
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| >>But the trees are still being chopped. The KR Road looks like a >>desert. Its super hot |
| I meant hold on to the cycling plans :-) |
The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. - Chief Seattle, Chief of the Suquamish Indians |
| --- On Mon, 9/3/09, Anush Shetty <ma...@anushshetty.com> wrote: |
|
|
Kanishka Lahiri
Mar 9, 2009, 12:25:18 AM3/9/09
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To incorporate bicycle friendliness we need to influence the design of the stations and coaches. E.g. in many metros, the only way of getting past the ticketing area to the platform is through turnstiles. This effectively eliminates cyclists. In New York certain stations have now created conventional gates alongside the turnstiles to allow wheelchair passengers and cyclists. Also, inside the coaches, there needs to be enough open space to park cycles, which has to be created by sacrificing some seating space. Maybe there are other design decisions like these that need to be rethought from the point of view of cyclists and physically challenged people.
I feel if we leave this for later they will come back and say that the designs for the coaches and stations have been finalized, and that we should have spoken up earlier etc. And that will be a much harder battle to fight. For a 2011 launch, being an engineer, I would think these designs are in the process of getting finalized now.
For now, I could send off a RTI applications to the BMRCL (has anyone done that? do we know whom to address the application to?).
Kanishka.
--
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I feel if we leave this for later they will come back and say that the designs for the coaches and stations have been finalized, and that we should have spoken up earlier etc. And that will be a much harder battle to fight. For a 2011 launch, being an engineer, I would think these designs are in the process of getting finalized now.
For now, I could send off a RTI applications to the BMRCL (has anyone done that? do we know whom to address the application to?).
Kanishka.
On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 9:40 AM, vinay sreenivasa <vinay.sr...@yahoo.com> wrote:
--
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Dasarathi
Mar 9, 2009, 12:30:22 AM3/9/09
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We're back to the old problem of the of the rest of
the city thinking that the Metro is the solution to all our problems,
and therefore willing to allow destruction of a few thousand trees and
buildings.
Das
Das
vinay sreenivasa
Mar 9, 2009, 12:42:53 AM3/9/09
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| u can send it to -
Public
Information Officer
u can then send it by registered post along with a postal order( not money order) of rs. 10 inserted in the enevelope.. or u can just drop it at the metro office in the Shanitnagar BMTC terminus, 3rd floor. |
The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. - Chief Seattle, Chief of the Suquamish Indians |
| --- On Mon, 9/3/09, Kanishka Lahiri <kanishk...@gmail.com> wrote: |
|
Date: Monday, 9 March, 2009, 9:55 AM |
|
|
-- Support my run for Asha: http://www.ashanet.org/bangalore/marathon/runners/kanishka.html |
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vinay sreenivasa
Mar 9, 2009, 12:49:30 AM3/9/09
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| sorry..attached doc now.. |
The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. - Chief Seattle, Chief of the Suquamish Indians |
| --- On Mon, 9/3/09, vinay sreenivasa <vinay.sr...@yahoo.com> wrote: |
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Shamala Kittane
Mar 10, 2009, 11:15:47 PM3/10/09
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I agree with you Vinay.
I personally do not feel Metro is anything more than a money making spree for those who are the stakeholders.
If Metro comes along we make way for felling of trees - Are we giving our consent ??
And its going to be yet another fight to make Metro cyclists' friendly, we'd rather fight the Metro.
I personally do not feel Metro is anything more than a money making spree for those who are the stakeholders.
If Metro comes along we make way for felling of trees - Are we giving our consent ??
And its going to be yet another fight to make Metro cyclists' friendly, we'd rather fight the Metro.
Dasarathi
Mar 11, 2009, 5:00:30 AM3/11/09
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The Metro IS a disaster,
but there's no
way we're going to be able to stop it now. Pardon me for sounding like
a crazy parrot and repeating this at every opportunity, but this is
what the city thinks:
1. "Road widening is the short term solution to our traffic problems. So OK, we have to put up with the destruction of a few trees and buildings for it."
2. "Metro is the long term solution to all our traffic problems. So OK, we have to put up with the destruction of a few trees and buildings for it."
We can't even blame people for thinking this way. After all, we ourselves thought this way till some time ago. I in fact got alternative gyan only a year ago, listening to a talk by Madhav Badami.
A few of us objecting is NOT going to help stop 'God's answers to Bangalore's traffic problems'. We HAVE to educate the city and help it get rid of the 2 misconceptions listed above. It is our duty to do this, just like other people (in my case Madhav) made it their duty to educate us.
The road widening and Metro (RW-M) are currently the single biggest cause of destruction of all kinds in the city. Educating people on their futility will make them think "If these are not going to be of any use, what the hell are we destroying our city for?".
Some of us may work towards transplanting trees, distributing saplings, etc. At the risk of sounding like I'm belittling these, I'd like to point out that:
1. Each of us has limited time, and it is best to use this time to work on something that has maximum impact.
2. It is better to save 40,000 full grown trees that are upwards of 30 years old, than to plant a few thousand trees that we will take 30 more years to grow.
3. It is better to educate people so that the whole city prevents this destruction from happening, than to have a group of 5-10 people landing up when trees are being cut, in a futile last ditch effort to do something.
4. 5-10 people objecting to the Metro is not going to stop it.
5. In the PIL against road widening, even the judges felt that there was no other option to solve the traffic problem, and felt that it was "necessary in the interests of the larger public".
Educating people involves using data and logic to prove that RW-M is not a solution, and suggesting concrete alternatives with data. Merely protesting against tree felling or destruction of buildings is not going to get us anywhere. If 1 Cr. people think tree felling and building destruction are necessary to give them a better life, it is going to be done.
If we really start working now on educating people right away, optimistically we can achieve one or more of these on the Metro:
1. Improve the design of stations to make them more pedestrian and cycle friendly.
2. Get it underground in more places
3. Reduce the destruction of the city caused by it.
4. Improve its aesthetics.
5. Ensure that there is no Phase 2 of the Metro, and that this is the last train set that the policy makers get to play with in Bangalore.
All these done hopefully by large masses of people of the city, by questioning, RTIs, PILs, etc. Who knows, in the extremely optimistic case, we might even get it abandoned and disbanded.
Same goes for road widening.
So even though it doesn't sound as exciting as doing protests and mock funerals AFTER a foul deed is done, the only solution is to Educate, Educate, Educate !
- Convince people of the futility of Road widening+Metro.
- Convince people that there is a concrete alternative, Cycle+Bus+Walking, that works in hundreds of cities worldwide.
How?
Accelerate the pace of what we are doing - promoting the CBW solution as an alternative to the RW+M solution.
Das
1. "Road widening is the short term solution to our traffic problems. So OK, we have to put up with the destruction of a few trees and buildings for it."
2. "Metro is the long term solution to all our traffic problems. So OK, we have to put up with the destruction of a few trees and buildings for it."
We can't even blame people for thinking this way. After all, we ourselves thought this way till some time ago. I in fact got alternative gyan only a year ago, listening to a talk by Madhav Badami.
A few of us objecting is NOT going to help stop 'God's answers to Bangalore's traffic problems'. We HAVE to educate the city and help it get rid of the 2 misconceptions listed above. It is our duty to do this, just like other people (in my case Madhav) made it their duty to educate us.
The road widening and Metro (RW-M) are currently the single biggest cause of destruction of all kinds in the city. Educating people on their futility will make them think "If these are not going to be of any use, what the hell are we destroying our city for?".
Some of us may work towards transplanting trees, distributing saplings, etc. At the risk of sounding like I'm belittling these, I'd like to point out that:
1. Each of us has limited time, and it is best to use this time to work on something that has maximum impact.
2. It is better to save 40,000 full grown trees that are upwards of 30 years old, than to plant a few thousand trees that we will take 30 more years to grow.
3. It is better to educate people so that the whole city prevents this destruction from happening, than to have a group of 5-10 people landing up when trees are being cut, in a futile last ditch effort to do something.
4. 5-10 people objecting to the Metro is not going to stop it.
5. In the PIL against road widening, even the judges felt that there was no other option to solve the traffic problem, and felt that it was "necessary in the interests of the larger public".
Educating people involves using data and logic to prove that RW-M is not a solution, and suggesting concrete alternatives with data. Merely protesting against tree felling or destruction of buildings is not going to get us anywhere. If 1 Cr. people think tree felling and building destruction are necessary to give them a better life, it is going to be done.
If we really start working now on educating people right away, optimistically we can achieve one or more of these on the Metro:
1. Improve the design of stations to make them more pedestrian and cycle friendly.
2. Get it underground in more places
3. Reduce the destruction of the city caused by it.
4. Improve its aesthetics.
5. Ensure that there is no Phase 2 of the Metro, and that this is the last train set that the policy makers get to play with in Bangalore.
All these done hopefully by large masses of people of the city, by questioning, RTIs, PILs, etc. Who knows, in the extremely optimistic case, we might even get it abandoned and disbanded.
Same goes for road widening.
So even though it doesn't sound as exciting as doing protests and mock funerals AFTER a foul deed is done, the only solution is to Educate, Educate, Educate !
- Convince people of the futility of Road widening+Metro.
- Convince people that there is a concrete alternative, Cycle+Bus+Walking, that works in hundreds of cities worldwide.
How?
Accelerate the pace of what we are doing - promoting the CBW solution as an alternative to the RW+M solution.
Das
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