Why do they call it rush hour when nothing moves?

If there is a time in the day I’m sure to get flaming, it’s when I’m driving. I sometimes wonder how so many things can go wrong together when it comes to Indian traffic. I’m told Chennai is far better when it comes to traffic and driving sense than Bangalore and Hyderabad, but that doesn’t make things any better.

How can Indian cities be planned so poorly? Some would argue that our cities have always been there and roads can just not be widened, which is not a bad argument on the face of it, but that does not answer why even newer areas of all Indian cities are so badly choked.

Now, given the fact that roads can only be small, how can anybody [in the Government] take so long to build flyovers to reduce travel time?

It’s understandable that the people representing our Government are not so intelligent (to say the least), but how can so many of them be SO dumb? Let’s take just one example. I cross through a famously choked signal zone called Nandanam Signal in Mount Road (Anna Salai, for hardcore Dravidians) in Chennai. I spend about 20 minutes or whereabouts of it everyday crossing that junction. All other routes are worse off for my destination. Now, Mount Road happens to the largest and the most famous road in the city and this junction has been full of traffic for time immemorial (I would presume). Thousands of vehicles pass each day through this junction, the road can’t be widened, but there can surely be a fly-over to make things better. It’s not just the common people (like us) who suffer because of the jams here. The same dumbos in the Government who are supposed to decide get to travel through these same choked roads and signals. If that doesn’t give them reason enough to make everyone’s life a little better, I don’t know what will.

Coming back to the example, I just put one of the most primitive Return-on-Investment (ROI) models to calculate how much time it would take to recover the cost of the fly-over if one builds it in this signal. I’ve taken very basic assumptions, but the model still says that the money spent can be recovered via benefits in just about 100 days. And the fly-over stays for 30-40 years. Talk about the best returns!

Ok, if you are not able to widen roads or build flyovers, why not make things like Singapore? Tax vehicles like crazy to restrict vehicle purchase, and instead build a great public transport system. I can’t begin to think what the 1 lac car would do to Indian traffic. How can city ‘planners’ in India can’t think of just one of so many models that would work?

I know the Government is supposed to do ROI calculations when it comes to public projects, but whether that happens and whether people who are supposed to do that have-it-in-them to do it is anybody’s guess. For now, I’ll rest the case Good-bye.

Update 1: The parameters considered are too primitive and have only been taken for the sake of simplicity. There are different types of vehicles and different types of fuel. Some put off their engine, and some don't. And some of the problems because of traffic cannot be quantified - such as the number of lives lost because ambulances got stuck etc.

Update 2: Read Jam's take on this issue.

Update 3: Read Arun's take on this issue.

Courtesty: Quote