Articulo: Ex-Bogota mayor bats for BRTS in city

MUMBAI: The city has an opportunity to transform itself and become a people -friendly one with parks, open spaces and efficient public transport if planning is done in the right manner.

This is the message of former mayor of Bogota(Columbia), Enrique Penalosa who pointed out that Mumbai will be three times its size in 2050. "Around 70 to 80% of the city has not been built yet. Planners should ensure that all new expansion plans have people-friendly layouts. They must try and create a large network of roads only for buses and pedestrians,'' he said.

The former Bogota Mayor met senior city administration and planning officials during his visit. When informed that the Bus Rapid Transit System(BRTS) system for the city was still not finalised even though it has been in the planning stage for three years, Penalosa offered his help in providing inputs for planning an effective BRTS system.

When he was mayor of Bogota in the nineties, he came into the limelight by organising the use of the BRTS as well as people-friendly planning with an emphasis on spaces for buses, bicycles and pedestrians on city roads and housing sites. "We provided inputs for the BRTS in Ahmedabad, which is working well. We can do the same for Mumbai,'' he told TOI.

Penalosa was critical of the large sums of money being doled out for widening roads and streets. "Nowhere in the world has the problem of traffic jams been solved by widening roads. Instead efficient public transport is required. This is happening in most important cities in the world,'' he added.

According to him, a Metro rail system would not solve the transport problem. "An efficient bus system like the BRTS would tackle the problem more effectively,'' he said and pointed out the case of London, which has 1,800 km of Metro rail system. Despite this, its bus system carried one million more passengers on a daily basis.

Currently, a director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) based in New York, Penalosa campaigns for more people-friendly cities around the globe."The cities in the West have already changed drastically and are being reoriented towards people-oriented transport. The developing nations are also changing.''

The condition of roads is not an indicator of an advanced city, he added. "The condition of the footpaths reflects the people's preferences and the quality of life in a city,'' he added.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com