BENGALURU: Stating that tunnels do not have the same negative impact as flyovers, Claudia Lopez, former mayor of Bogota, Columbia, said, “But I will hardly recommend any of them. Across the world, the taxpayer’s money should first go for multi-modal public transport.”
She was speaking at a discussion, ‘Bogota to Bengaluru-Making Mega Cities Inclusive and Sustainable’ during a programme organised by the World Resource Institute India (WRI India) here on Wednesday.
She said when any infrastructure is built, it should focus on nature, ensuring that there is no environmental damage, and then the infra should focus on pedestrians, electric vehicles, and then multi-modal transport. She said infrastructure for cars should be the last priority.
“Flyovers take away spaces and block the view. It occupies a lot of surface area. The more infrastructure you provide for cars, the more will be the congestion. It’s exactly the opposite in the case of multi-modal public transportation,” she said.
“If you building a tunnel that is very expensive, then better do a subway Metro for public transportation,” she said, recommending that wherever Metro lanes are put in place, one lane should be taken away from cars. “People will not use public transportation even if good public transportation is provided. Not only providing good public transportation, but also making less space for cars and making such fewer spaces more costly for cars will make people use public transport,” Claudia opined.
Pawan Mulukutla, Executive Director, Integrated Transport, Clean Air and Hydrogen, WRI India, and others took part in the discussion.