As Bangalore city grows, footpaths shrink

The city that is home to over 80 lakh people — liberal estimates put the figure at one crore — is casual in its attitude towards public safety.

There are eight stakeholders of the city’s safety. They are the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom), traffic police, telecom, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) and members of the public.

Citizens have always found that one or more of these authorities are at work in some parts of the city at any point of time. But these agencies and the people have no inkling on what each authority is doing as no prior information or even spot display is made available to the people.

Of all civic amenities, the most neglected is the footpaths of Bangalore. Footpaths and pavements adjoining major roads are shrinking by the day, making Bangalore among the most pedestrian-unfriendly cities in the country .

Though Bangalore has a road network of about 5,600 km, there is no official record on the total length of footpaths or pavements dotting the city. While pavements in the central parts of the city are disappearing because of road-widening projects, they have not even been conceived for the new roads being constructed on the city’s periphery. The average width of a footpath in the city is anywhere between 0.5 and 1 metre, thus jeopardising the pedestrians’ right to sidewalks.

The only reliable starting point on footpaths is the Union urban ministry’s national study two years ago of major cities including Bangalore. Bangalore was ranked 12th among the 30 sampled cities on the ‘walkability index.’

It is estimated that 16% to 58% trips by citizens in Indian cities are made on foot. The study raises concerns over pedestrian infrastructure, amenities and services being sidelined during the urban planning process. Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad ranked higher than Bangalore on the index.

A higher index reflects better pedestrian facilities in the city concerned. The study shows that Bangalore has 0.63 as the index. Chandigarh, with 0.91, topped the list of sampled cities. The average index for all the cities stood at 0.52.

The report, that was released in May this year, showed that tourist cities like Varanasi and Shimla and small and medium cities scored low on the index. In London, the index is roughly estimated at between 1.5 and 1.7.

MN Sreehari, traffic and transportation expert, traces the issue to the planning level, when road projects are designed with the vehicles — and not with people — in mind.

“All stakeholders of public roads must be involved in any meaningful urban planning, especially on road and footpath usage. In Bangalore, it is woefully lacking,” he says. 
On roads like KG Road and Commercial Street, the walkers’ space should be above 2.5 metres. With pedestrians figuring in 38% of the road accident deaths in Bangalore, the city can’t afford to let the walker’s space shrink further, says the expert.