Cyclists and pedestrians in Delhi are in constant danger due to road traffic and pollution. An initiative gives residents a taste of safer urban living, by redesigning 15 intersections and over 50 km of streets to make the capital more walkable.
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00:00Getting to the nearest metro station, be it by bike or on foot, is nothing short of running
00:06the gauntlet for Victor Day.
00:09The software engineer's workplace is 48 kilometres away, and his daily commute across
00:14the city throws up challenges from the very beginning.
00:17For almost a good one, one and a half kilometre stretch here, there's no footpaths and it's
00:25very, very difficult to navigate.
00:26I mean, walking is a very far stretch, but I think even cycling is very difficult here.
00:30The only choice you have is either to be in a car so that you don't get your feet wet,
00:34you don't get yourself dirty.
00:37In India's largest city by size and population, pedestrians and cyclists risk injury and worse
00:43every day.
00:44Over the last three decades, the number of vehicles in Delhi has grown exponentially
00:48to reach 12 million today.
00:51These vehicles jostle for space with pedestrians in densely populated areas and tourist hotspots
00:57alike.
00:58We don't understand where people want to go.
01:06And it goes from the right, from the left, and from front and behind, and wow!
01:15It's very difficult.
01:18Hotspots are a must if you want people to enjoy the experience of shopping.
01:21If there are cars in market areas, it is bound to create traffic jams.
01:26It's difficult to walk.
01:27There is a lot of noise pollution and traffic creates problems for vendors as well because
01:32then we have to move to create space for pedestrians.
01:35Yesterday, someone almost like drove over my foot, just like in the last second.
01:46It's scary.
01:51Over its 1,000-year history, Delhi's transportation arteries evolved to accommodate pedestrians,
01:56cyclists and a handful of horse-drawn carriages.
02:01Since the 1980s, the city has largely forgotten about these users.
02:05Now much of the city is built to accommodate the ever-growing number of cars.
02:10Studies show that 15% of residents who drive cars take up over 90% of the road infrastructure.
02:20Professor Geetam Tiwari has been studying why the government has been unable to stem
02:24the use of cars on Delhi's roads.
02:29We don't have walking infrastructure in place.
02:33So if I have to use a bus and negotiate a very poor quality of pedestrian path, I avoid
02:39using a bus.
02:41Of course, this is not the only factor.
02:44Quality of public transport matters a lot.
02:46But to begin with, the first step is towards creating a safe, comfortable and risk-free
02:55access trips, which is walking.
02:58Delhi regularly ranks among the cities with the most polluted air globally.
03:03Its citizens bear the brunt of this pollution, but they are beginning to build a movement
03:07for safer and more inclusive streets.
03:11Here in south-west Delhi's Dwarka, this arterial road is full of people on foot, instead
03:16of getting clogged with vehicles.
03:19Residents are here to celebrate Rahagiri Day.
03:22It is similar to reclaim the streets movements seen across the world.
03:31This event is really inclusive.
03:33Everyone including all ages here.
03:37It's my first experience and I'm really liking it.
03:41This event is an initiative of the NGO Rahagiri Foundation and the Delhi Traffic Police.
03:47They hope to give residents a taste of walkable urban living and pedestrian-friendly roads.
03:53The NGO also uses feedback and learnings from such events to redesign and rebuild the streets
03:58all over Delhi.
04:00We do traffic survey, basically traffic volume survey, origin, destination, people, where
04:06from, where they are coming and their travel pattern.
04:11Also we look into land use, it's an industrial area, it's a commercial area, it's a mixed
04:16use.
04:17Are there any urban villages nearby because from there that is the maximum people walk
04:22from there.
04:24So far the foundation has redesigned over 50 kilometres of streets and 50 intersections
04:30in the capital.
04:31They hope to change how people make most of their shorter trips.
04:37Many intersections have now zero fatalities and injuries, few reduced to 50 percent.
04:43The streets have zero dust pollution now.
04:47However in a city with over 30 million people and little pedestrian infrastructure, this
04:52is a drop in the ocean.
04:54And in areas with available pedestrian infrastructure, women's safety continues to be a major stumbling
05:00block.
05:01I would not feel safe walking around at night alone or even in the evening.
05:06So I would just spend a lot of money on autos or cabs for a very walkable distance.
05:12As Delhi continues to suffer the effects of sky high air pollution, making the city more
05:17walkable could make for a better and less polluted city in the long run.
05:22The city has announced plans to make about half of the city walkable by 2041.
05:28If the execution keeps pace, this could be a step in the right direction.