We Need More Mass Transit Systems On City Roads: Experts | Kolkata News

Kolkata: The number of cars rose during the pandemic in most of our cities, said Sharif Qamar, convenor, centre for sustainable mobility, TERI. “Fear of catching infection overrides cost-benefit rationale in purchasing a car. In an overpopulated city like Kolkata, we need more and more mass transit systems like buses, which facilitate dispersal of the large volume of commuters at a time. More cars mean more congestion and pollution,” he added.
In last two decades, there has been hardly any addition to the city’s road length. “We have built elevated corridors which again eat into the carriageway. The elevated corridors mainly serve the car population. So by building flyovers and elevated corridors, we are facilitating faster movement of cars at the cost of public transport below on the congested road space. Thus, we are actually encouraging cars and discouraging bus-system,” said Ajay Das, former chief of traffic and transportation directorate.
The registration of two-wheelers, too,saw a sharper growth in the city during the pandemic. Each motorcycle might occupy a little road space, but collectively, they take away a huge road space. “Unless we bring back more buses on the city roads for public transportation, our future road scenario looks bleak,” said Qamar.