Confront Congestion

India's 300 million city dwellers add up to one-tenth of the world's urban population. Mumbai could soon cross Tokyo as the most populated city globally. Population in Delhi has grown by nearly 10x from 1950. The graph below shows how the population (in Million) has grown in some Indian Metros:

So, it's higher economical activities / opportunities VIS-à-VIS higher cost of living, higher pollution, ruthless traffic etc..

Ok, the post is not to debate on whether this growth is good or bad. Rather to look into how well prepared are we to manage this. Especially, Traffic Congestion.

Yes, it's a no brainer that we are not prepared fully.. just to give you a sample:

In the last ten years, road length increased by 20% and cars by 132% in Urban India.

Does it bring you bad memories of being stuck in traffic and cursing everyone left, right and center (the political parties / Govt); the front, back, sides (the vehicles & fellow drivers); the top, middle and bottom (the people - friends, family & work)?

On a serious note, traffic congestion is a dead weight loss to the society as it affects people emotionally (losing patience, getting irritable, not spending time with family etc), financially (losing businesses, delays), environmentally (more fuel consumption) etc. Again a couple of samples:

• Delhi NCR area - 420 million man-hours are lost every month due to traffic congestion
• Congestion costs Bengalurians $1.8 billion a year in fuel and vehicle maintenance alone

Oops! 420 mn hours of torture monthly for people! Imagine how many Dads would have shouted at their kids, husbands at their wife, bosses at their poor employees! All thanks to the congestion! (And Salman Khan won't give you prize in Dus Ka Dum to guess the % of people who attribute "coming late" to "traffic jam" - Yes, by far, it would be the highest!)

Fair enough, one of the most irritating problems, the urban India faces! But what about the solution? Had it been so simple, it would have been solved by now, right? Or are we missing something?

For a common man, it's all about solving his own problem: Skip the signal, travel in opposite / wrong lanes, change lane abruptly, take a U, R, L, Z where it's not supposed to be taken etc.

For bureaucrats / government bodies, it's all about Obligation (if not Omission). Optimization is a distant dream.

Researchers all over the world, be it in mathematics, physics or economics - have tried / been trying to develop models. (Take this sample: a study by IISc suggests a simple solution of synchronizing Bengaluru traffic signals in a particular way to reduce waiting time) Yes, millions of solutions proposed. Implementation / Coordination is the missing link.

You ask an MBA person. He would say - at a high level, it's just common sense to solve this problem - do one or a combination of the following: increase the supply (roads, infrastructure), reduce the demand (personal vehicles), improve the efficiency of meeting the demand with the supply. He / she is good at solid structuring, result-orientation, efficiency etc. All these are good, but what about practicality?

So, to confront the ever growing monster called traffic congestion, you can't fight individually - you need an army. He is a terrible villain - you need Amar, Akbar and Anthony to join hands to beat him! Yes, what is needed is the coordinated effort from different streams such as Research institutes, Government bodies, Private organizations (or Management entities) and most importantly the People.

*Data Source (In addition to Wikipedia, Google): Sify, The Hindu, Wired

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@Regular:

You get a long weekend, this is what would happen. A mix of awesome movies (To Kill A mocking Bird and The International) with bad ones ( 8x10 Tasveer - Bollywood / Akshay Kumar Movie - A very poor execution of an interesting idea; Ayan - Tamil movie starring Surya / Tammanna - Surya, please don't go down the drain as some thala(pathi)s are doing - we expect good movies from you!). Also catching up with The Maximum City and The circle of Reasons.