Here's a few cities in India. What transportation method is best?

Chennai, India (also known as Madras) - Coastal city of 4.3 Million people.


Delhi, India - has 4 million vehicles on its roads, and adds 14% more per year.

In that case, I think I'd rather play frogger and jump on the roofs of the cars to get somewhere.

Give me a pogo stick.

Me too ^

The second picture looks like....

if critical mass were reversed, it would be that.

Errgg.... Beijing has more than 3 million cars already, and that's going up by about 14% a year, too . Population just passed 17 million.

I have been to Chennai several times-- wouldn't be caught dead biking there. Just going for a walk is dangerous. Stick to an air conditioned "car." Imagine millions of people and no freeways.

The pollution will kill you--- and western driving conventions will get you killed--- and they use the "wrong" side of the street.

There is only ONE answer

Great idea!

Can "move to a different city" be an option?

Thats nothing a couple of thermo-nuclear devices couldn't fix.

I'M KIDDING!!!

+1
best transportation option is to get the heck outta there!

It wouldn't help immediately, but might do some good in the long run.

^ Hehe true.

Just like most 3rd world countries, those balloons will be given to the kids to make balloons with. I had some from my aunt's house and me and my cousins used them from water balloons to well, make balloons with.

Lifestyles are now made in India, BTW.

Problem is they do not fit the consumer and have "inflated prices"
V

Too big or too small?

The case could be religion too. Some religion abhors family planning. Its considered a sin. I believe catholics are one of them.

looks like the people in Chennai are mostly walking - I would probably join them.

As for Delhi, when I was there we walked, were driven in a car, and took scooters. Walking and scooters were by far the fastest options, and most convenient. Just make sure you get someone who'll turn the meter on.

In Calcutta (Kolkata, now), the cars are perpetually frozen (at least they were 10 years ago when I was there), it was much faster to walk, or take the subway than to take a cab or drive. At the time there were fewer scooters in Kolkata than cars for some reason, I guess people had the time to travel at 1-2 mi an hour. The subway was awesome, and very cheap.

As for cycling, rural india is very nice on a cycle rickshaw, and I imagine it would be fun on a good bike too (though I'm not sure I could master a Hero, even though they look very cool). I would be pretty intimidated on a bike in the cities though - at least a scooter will provide your legs with some scuff protection.

BTW - I have never gone faster than 40 km/h in a car in an Indian city - there's far too much traffic. Scooters top speed in Delhi was maybe 20-25 km/h - the roads are pretty uneven, and even at that speed it was pretty exciting. AFAIK the traffic deaths in cities are mostly people being crushed by trucks or buses at relatively low speeds. Delhi has (or had) the most lethal public transit in the world, though this may have changed - 10 years of rapid change has certainly outdated my perceptions.

In my experience of the world's large cities - London, New York, Bangkok, Chicago, Hong Kong, Buenos Ares, Santiago de Chile, Delhi, Kolkata, and Paris - taking a car was generally not the fastest option - public transit or walking was - the exception being Bangkok that had toll roads to get rid of congestion-causing poor folks. It leads me to believe that people who live in these cities drive cars for status (or comfort) rather than ease and speed of getting around. Paris, London, New York, and Hong Kong were pretty silly places to be stuck in a car, when trains, trams, and subways were much faster than cars (except maybe late at night). I guess humans everywhere are slaves to fashion.

Cars are only really practical means of transportation in small to medium sized cities - Calgary, or Halifax, NS for example.

YMMV, but this is what I have experienced.