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Originally Posted by Keeleri_Achu Take a good look at the stuff happening at NYC, NJ, Bay Area, Seattle or any other major city in US and then compare it to any other city in India. That should give you one good reason to be proud of your country. If it's still your country.
Interstate system in US was developed after the war, when the car makers took over public transit systems and simply closed them to favor auto sales. Highway development in India didn't kick off until Vajpayee's government. Considering it has only been 20 years, I would say we have done a good job. Is it mind blowing like some other countries? Absolutely no. Do we have room to improve? Hell yes. Are we improving? Definitely.
And if you're comparing US interstates to our highways, you should also look at the state of public transit beyond the major cities. It is literally non existent. If you don't have a car, your life will be screwed. That should not be something any country should be proud of.
It's been more than 3 years since the Fastag system was launched and at least in Kerala, 40%-50% of the vehicle users are yet to switch over, and that is after all the arm twisting by the government. I'm not sure about pan India statistics. But I'm sure that it won't be more than 70%. So there is no way can we put the entire blame on government for lack of enthusiasm in implementing cutting edge technologies.
Talking about the current move to stop collect tolls, I welcome it. Like others suggested, I don't think it's not going to make a big impact, considering the fact the roads are almost empty anyway. But it will allow whoever is working at the toll booths to just remove the barricades and go home, even if they are a minority. |
Good points, so the U.S. focused on cars and yes, certainly there are drawbacks to a system focused on private transportation, but they did implement their system well and if you have a car, which most people in the U.S. do, the system works well. If you live in a city, most U.S. cities have good public transportation, NYC especially, despite the system being old and in need of maintenance.
In India, the government is confused about its own policy, is electric mobility the focus in cities and towns ? If yes, can we double down on our efforts to ensure that electric cars are cheap and affordable by promoting its adoption first followed by a focused effort on local manufacturing afterwards ? Why are we trying to promote electric cars while simultaneously discouraging people from private transportation ? It's very confusing.
If you are trying to promote public transportation in cities, then how about ensuring that we have access to decent quality buses and metros that aren't overcrowded and unbearable during the best of times ? I'm sure if the government focuses all its efforts and puts its brightest minds to work, it can be achieved.
In short, in India, public transportation isn't desirable for someone who doesn't like overcrowded, unreliable buses and metros and driving around your own car in a city is stressful. If you are in the Indian upper middle class, your ticket to a better life is sadly a one way ticket to another country.
In tandem, efforts need to be made to encourage people to move to smaller cities and towns, both by public and private companies.
Fast tag, while isn't really a silver bullet hasn't been widely adopted because the implementation is sloppy, my friend wasn't able to top up is account with money due to back end issues, this is just one such instance.
We have a long way to go and for someone like me who is impatient, it's all the more frustrating. I'm not smart or talented but if the folks in power at all levels were on average even half as determined and smart as me, we would've made more a lot of progress in 20 years, more than what we've made so far.