I just drove 50km from Greater Noida to Golf Course Road in a little over an hour. Save for two traffic lights on Rao Tula Ram Marg, the entire stretch was signal and toll free.
The roads were excellent and traffic was low in both UP and Haryana. In Delhi the roads were good and traffic moderate, which isn't bad given metro construction all along the ring road.
Any way you look at this, it is excellent. It is the hard work and coordinated effort of successive governments at all levels - local, state and central - that has led to this. These are attributes one never really associates with civic agencies in India.
And yet, when you drive on the same stretch during working days, the experience is hellish. But whose fault is that? Personal vehicle affordability in Delhi NCR has increased dramatically. Middle class Indians no longer want to leave our air-conditioned cars and take public transport. Growing up, we would largely commute by bus and two wheeler. We used to see American movies where a single person occupying an entire sedan or pick up truck would be driving to work. We would wonder "how inconsiderate to the environment are these people?" And now see where we are ourselves. While growth in private and cab vehicles has tended to infinity in recent years, road capacity and quality can only be increased incrementally.
However, the alternatives to private cars aren't very exciting right now, at least on this stretch. Rapid Metro has only just taken off on Golf Course Road. The metro lines up to Greater Noida and along the ring road are yet to begin. Delhi Metro is still largely hub and spoke, so if you take the existing metro and feeder bus services, it takes well over 2.5 hours to cover the same stretch. Clearly our investment in public transportation is over a decade behind.
Ashwin, Manas, Nityanand, thoughts.
The roads were excellent and traffic was low in both UP and Haryana. In Delhi the roads were good and traffic moderate, which isn't bad given metro construction all along the ring road.
Any way you look at this, it is excellent. It is the hard work and coordinated effort of successive governments at all levels - local, state and central - that has led to this. These are attributes one never really associates with civic agencies in India.
And yet, when you drive on the same stretch during working days, the experience is hellish. But whose fault is that? Personal vehicle affordability in Delhi NCR has increased dramatically. Middle class Indians no longer want to leave our air-conditioned cars and take public transport. Growing up, we would largely commute by bus and two wheeler. We used to see American movies where a single person occupying an entire sedan or pick up truck would be driving to work. We would wonder "how inconsiderate to the environment are these people?" And now see where we are ourselves. While growth in private and cab vehicles has tended to infinity in recent years, road capacity and quality can only be increased incrementally.
However, the alternatives to private cars aren't very exciting right now, at least on this stretch. Rapid Metro has only just taken off on Golf Course Road. The metro lines up to Greater Noida and along the ring road are yet to begin. Delhi Metro is still largely hub and spoke, so if you take the existing metro and feeder bus services, it takes well over 2.5 hours to cover the same stretch. Clearly our investment in public transportation is over a decade behind.
Ashwin, Manas, Nityanand, thoughts.