7 August

2) Car-centric planning has been directly responsible for the degeneration of

urban mobility in most Asian cities. Examine.
In the Urban cities-the dream of middle class is -A car-a status symbol.The theory of interest articulation
shows that the common interests are reflected in the policy making body- of the city ,-of the state and -of
the nation at large.Roads are expanded which incentivises more cars and in turn more roads.
This circle goes on until the space is crunched and there is no more room for further expansion of the
roads.Urban mobility decreases as the travel time increases substantially with higher traffic.Asia has the
highest rates of urban migration which is not an abnormal condition when we look at the countries which
were at a similar development stage.But the failure of public transport system to attract the passengers in
terms of travel time and cost is largely responsible for the road becomming a sure choice for the
commuters.Cases in point:Mumbai ,kolkata,Delhi -the severe mobility crunch forced the policy makers to
move towards the rapid transit system rather than car centric planning.
Interlinked network of rapid transit system with underground stations as the nodes and the roads for the
travel between the node and a sub node(here your house) is the required criteria for the urban mobility to
go up.This is the only way travel time and cost can be reduced and should be reflected in the city plans.

2
nd
Answer
Urban degeneration is one of the major problem confronting the process of urbanisation. Unplanned
transport infrstructure especially roads are a major contributing factor to this degeneration.
Often the roads are expanded to decongest them for cars. Termed as car-centric planning, the move mostly
attracts more cars and increases congestion. Road are constructed over surface. Long gestation periods
cause great deal of congestion, traffic diversion and jams, obviating the whole purpose of decongestation.
Poor planning and foresight makes these projects redundant on completetion as the demands already
exceed the space created. Also the increased load of slow moving cars and traffic jams create a major
pollution problem. Land acquisition, demolitation etc create long litigation and implementation delays.
Further the ability to expand is limited especially in densely populated areas.
Asian countries with whooping population suffers a great deal with mobility related problems. Solutions
like elevated expressway constructed in Manila to ease congestation has further aggravated it. The solution
lies in realising the fact that the purpose of mass transit system should be to move people not cars .
Underground transit systems like those in Japan, Singapore and Metros in India provides a solution. But,
these mass transit can only be successful to attract commuters if they are supported by artery network like
buses, autos and cylce depots.
3
rd
Answer
Many Asian countries were de jure or de facto colonies. The whites and the rich brownies had car, the
poor had the public-transport.
With freedom and economic progress, the urban middle-class emerged from the poor and for them a car
signaled having arrived in life. The govt. took this as natural, and widened the roads, paved the unpaved
and built new ones for the cars.
With a burgeoning middle class and price-wars in the market, the growth of the car-population outstrips
the current as well as predicted growth in road infrastructure. The central idea of this discourse is that the
1000cc 3mX1.5m car hauls a single person, where a 8000cc12mX3m bus will haul at least a 50. A diesel
locomotive will haul even more kg per unit power.
So it is not the car that is the problem, but the driver-only cars and car centric planning. More road space
will attract more cars. And driver only cars mean 4.5 m^2 space for a 6 foot man. That is a sure shot way
to degenerated urban mobility.
What is to be done is declare moratorium on urban roads, and build a subway.But what is needed most is
an attitudinal change from seeing cars as an expression of vertical social mobility, to seein them as a
mere means of horizontal physical mobility

4
th
answer
Long queues of cars stuck in traffic jam are a very common feature in Asian cities. City administration
builds flyovers, underpasses and widens roads to increase city mobility but only to fall short due to
increased traffic pressure.
Ensuring faster mass mobility in cities is an integral part of city planning which must adapt to the specific
needs of the city and its population instead of copying mindlessly the idea of planning from the developed
nations. Though Asian cities require more emphasis on rapid mass transit system, the city administrators
appear to find solution only in building flyovers, underpasses and widening roads to decongest traffic
system. More importantly, even these roads often exclude its use by cycles and discourage two-wheelers.
Despite these efforts the challenge continues which exposes the lack of wisdom in transport management.
There may be pressure from car industry or belief of our policymakers that car sales are essential to keep
economic growth. But what is overlooked is economic cost of time loss, difficulties of majority commuters
and not ignorable environmental cost.
A well planned and integrated public transport is the only solution to decongest our roads and also to
reduce agony of the commuters. Delhi Metros success is an example to this.