During the past few months not only have such half-baked ideas failed – and continued to give bus based public transport a bad name but also cemented it as a “loss making” venture deserving no priority or nurturing – even though PMPML is the backbone of Public Transport in the city with over 10 lakh passenger trips. The much-hyped Metro Rail with an investment of Rs. 11,522 crores for the first two corridors (PCMC to Swar Gate/Katraj and Vanaz to Ramwadi) gets royal treatment with no questions asked although its DPR promises ridership of mere 7.5 lakhs per day when the corridors are up and running by 2031 or later. Whether it is the selection of routes, inconvenience to other modes like buses, cycles or walking, damage to the environment from features like pillars in the riverbed or damage to the skyline, the Metro is given a free hand.

If Las Vegas is for gambling, New York city is for skyscrapers and Tirupati is for ladoos then India is definitely for traffic violations.
If you don't believe it, just stand on the road for a minute and see how many vehicle riders flout traffic rules. By and large the lack of discipline among drivers is attributed to road crashes. If someone tells you about any road crash or a pedestrian getting killed or injured on the road, the first thing that comes to our mind is that the driver must have broken the rules, or the pedestrian must have been jaywalking.

“Oh, no ! I always wear a seat-belt.”,“ Bull*#!, that wasn't me”, “Hey, It wasn’t my car”, “ How is it possible? I have never been there.”, “How come I was charged for driving without a license, I always carry my license”, “Why would I park my bike there if I never travelled there.?”, “My car doesn't have this number plate, man”. 

These few agonizing responses from people who have got an E-challan through close circuit TV cameras. Traffic rule violations largely go unchecked in India because of manpower and resources constraints while the vehicles hitting the roads continue to increase exponentially. Electronic enforcement has now become a common phenomenon in metropolitan cities where enforcement agencies are heavily relying more on  so called contactless  enforcement systems. However, it is not proving to be a deterrent for traffic violators on the road.  

Walking on the roads of our cities has become challenging these days due to various reasons like wider roads, heavy traffic, rash driving, speed of the vehicles, etc. At many places there are no footpaths and where they are provided, they are with full of obstructions.

Walking is a very fundamental activity in which almost everyone is involved. And therefore, everyone is a pedestrian at one time or the other. Pedestrian trips account for most of the trips in many Indian cities.