Straphangers United

A peak ride hour of less than two kilometres, from Vadapalani bus stand to Liberty stop by a 17 E Deluxe service of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation today took about 35 minutes, of which 20 were spent inside a virtually stationary bus.

The traffic moves at less than a crawl between Trustpuram and Liberty. The MTC conductor struggled to use his newly introduced ticket machine as the crowd swelled at Vadapalani and Trustpuram halts. Office-goers spoke on their mobiles informing people that they were stalled in traffic — some told superiors at work that they were going to be late to work. One salesman bought a 30-rupee ticket (which is not issued by the machine but contained in a conventional ticket book). This ticket allows him unlimited travel on all except airconditioned buses of MTC.

“I have paid seven rupees, but the bus is not moving,” said a frustrated young man to a friend on his mobile, interrupting the FM radio that he was listening to on earphones using the phone.

The doors of the deluxe bus (the arms of the pneumatic mechanism already rusting at the bolts) opened and shut a couple of times in the 30-odd minutes. For those who wanted to go only upto Liberty, it would have been easier (remember, I am not saying easy) to get down and walk, but the doors were shut.

At Liberty, the pavement shrunk by the ever increasing onslaught of motorised traffic was like a ribbon on which an army of people wanted to walk, as others waited for buses. Cars, autorickshaws and two-wheelers entering from Puliyur Main Road added to the swell at the Liberty stop. Just beyond Meenakshi College, mounds of sand, gravel and some strange chemical containers near the police kiosk cut off access, forcing people onto the road, in disarray, much like ants that had lost their pheromone links.

At Liberty, there were at least 20 police personnel, and an Assistant Commissioner was busy adjusting his high ankle leather shoes next to his Sumo vehicle, as the chaos continued all around. Wonder why they were there…Some of the problem is perhaps attributable to the flyover work at Mahalingapuram. But there is no question that increase in vehicle strength and lack of circulating space for pedestrians is the real culprit.

Sponsored time-tables in the style of plastic banners have made their appearance on the Beach – Tambaram lines. Providing a contrast, timetables with a different style and colour scheme have been displayed on the Beach – Velachery line.

The time-table style is a pointer to the poor planning done by the Southern Railway, whose Chennai Division handles the suburban trains.

Update: The schedule for MRTS has been changed in 2008. These sponsored boards have therefore disappeared, and small boards have been put up, representing a further step backward. The lates timetable for 2008 can be downloaded here as pdf.

There is no uniformity in the presentation of train details in the new time-tables. This is fundamentally different from international metro train information systems, which adopt a uniform style to create familiarity and quick readibility for commuters.

Moreover, for some strange reason, the displays sponsored by a private company on the Beach – Tambaram line have been divided into separate Monday – Saturday and Sunday timetables. The poor design of these at first glance confuses the commuter, on what service it represents. Also, it does not state in Tamil, that the display is for Mon – Sat or Sun. Thus, if you do not know English, you may have difficulty interpreting the time-tables.

In the case of the MRTS time-tables, there is a different sort of confusion. There are three colours adopted. Dark blue, Green and Red. The dark blue is for weekday service only; the green for weekdays and Sundays; the red is for Sunday only.

What we need to understand, apparently, is that on Sundays, the services marked in red alone operate. those in dark blue are available on weekdays only, and the green on Sundays too.

It could have been a much simpler style of marking a separate Sunday-only time-table on the model adopted at Chennai Fort MRTS station.

Sadly, the suburban train stations including the MRTS are in a terrible state of disrepair making their antiquated and creaky state even worse. Look beyond the platforms and the most modern cars with all comforts are on the road. The MTC has a few showpiece buses of different levels of sophistication, ranging from the Erode-built articulated carriages (no one knows if they have been tested for aerodynamics) to those with the classic bus design from Volvo.

When will we see modern coaches and information systems, besides better designed and maintained stations from the Railways? Why is our Minister of State for Railways, Mr. Velu happy to ship modern coaches only to Mumbai from ICF. He should be asking that similar coaches be run in Chennai, starting with the MRTS. That would attract more people to take to trains, and give a boost to issues concerning pedestrians and straphangers.

Some of the old-fashioned coaches being operated on the MRTS, or Mass Rapid Transit System operating between Beach and Velachery are getting a fresh coat of paint, partly perhaps because of advertisements on the exterior.

Sadly, the painting job seems to be handled by a poorly trained and demotivated workforce.

The result is seats with “footprint” paint marks that make them look absolutely dirty. Considering that the Integral Coach Factory of the Government of India produces coaches of advanced design right here in Chennai, why are city multiple unit rakes made up of obsolete and dirty coaches?

The Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) is slowly replacing old boards indicating train timings between Beach and Velachery.

This is the type of display that one finds in some stations, while at others, it is still old-style painted boards. The board in the picture is found at Chintadripet MRTS station. It would be helpful to commuters if a similar board is kept at the bus stop at P.Orr and Sons on Anna Salai, about 500 metres from the Station and at the Simpsons stop closer to the Station. This is not a new idea. There was a board even before the Velachery service was started, but that has decayed and virtually disappeared.

Buses going towards Egmore, Kodambakkam, K.K.Nagar, Saligramam, and Korukkupet stop at Simpsons. It would be helpful to commuters if the MRTS timings are displayed here along with fares and details of season passes.

Apparently, modern train information systems are yet to make an entry on the system.

This blog is for those who ride transit, or just look at people riding transit from wherever. Let us face up to the fact. Riding transit is going to be a necessity for many people in the coming years. As traffic goes haywire, a lot of options will start appearing more sensible.

I have been writing a lot on transit in my other blog, but it now seems to make sense for me to provide my two cents worth in a separate blog dedicated to mobility issues.

First off, there is this editorial in the Economic and Political Weekly, which talks of the impact of the Tata Nano on our cities and the whole question of mobility. Strangely, the EPW editorial seems constrained by some of the market concerns of the day and fails to make a sharp point, preferring instead to praise some aspects of the innovation and calling rather weakly for alternatives such as walking and cycling.

We welcome the overall tenor of the editorial, which is to prioritise public options including green options such as walking and cycling. It also makes the important point about existing car owners crying foul over congestion, because the cities are on the cusp of the next round of motorisation. The two-wheeler boom started in the 1980s and now, it seems destined to be repeated with a four-wheeler Nano-led growth curve. Why deny the middle class the benefit of personal choice, the editorial argues…

What about a policy of common neighbourhood schools for all children and the provision of safe space for walking and cycling?

An eminently debatable issue, one that environmentalists have been demanding for long.

While visiting this blog, expect anecdotal stories about life in the commuter trains, buses and autorickshaws, mostly in Chennai, but with some glimpses of other travels thrown in.

Cheers!