Travelling time in Chennai increased to even 50 minutes!!
Posted on: 14/Dec/2022 9:19:01 AM
As per the study conducted by the World Bank, it was found that the travel time in Chennai has increased by 20 minutes to 50 minutes during the rains of more than 100mm.
Beginning from October 2020, the World Bank compiled a report for CUMTA or Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority after studying the important stretches such as Vandalur- Alandur, Tambaram- Central, Koyambedu- Ambattur, Central –Poonamallee, Guindy- Ambattur etc of varying distances of 12km to 30km.
During the heavy rains, while travelling along the Guindy-Ambattur stretch of 22kms there was a delay of 20minutes. There was a delay of 50minutes while travelling from Tambaram to Central of 29km distance during the rains. Two wheelers were used by 29.6% commuters, public buses were used by 22.6% and bikes & autos were used by 7.1%.
Lead transport specialist from World Bank. Mr. Gerald Oliver spoke about how successful cities take into account not only the mobility to be green, efficient and safe but also the mobility to be resilient. During the extreme events such as floods etc, urban mobility resilience ensures access gets preserved or restored quickly. Multi agency coordination effort would be needed to build a disaster resilient infrastructure for smooth mobility.This coordination would be needed prior to, during and even after the events. Any weakness in the mobility system needs to be addressed before the events by the agencies.
The poor road quality and improper coordination between the agencies in-charge of transport were the reasons for increase in the travel time during the rains in Chennai. This was according to a retired professor from Anna University, Mr. KP. Subramaniam. Lack of proper cross slope and effective storm water drains have been responsible for the water getting retained on the road surface.It is now said that auditing of roads is necessary for a flawless drainage system.
