Left late from office today and immediately (and predictably) got stuck in traffic. Horrible and selfish traffic. Most of the traffic was caused by people in cars. And to make matters worse, most of the cars had only one occupant in it.
It is great how a bus can accommodate more than 150 people (I counted them) during the route i take. By 150+ people, I mean people who used the bus service for some or more part of the journey.
During the same time, I also counted the number of cars which passed the bus I was in and the number of cars the bus overtook. It came to about 80 cars. I also counted (with a fair bit of accuracy, but with some tolerance thrown in) the total number of occupants in the cars. It came to 106. A 106 people with their self-indulgence, sloth and gluttony exposed, thanks to their seat-belts.
Shocking.
Compare 150+ people in 1 bus with a 106 people in 80-odd cars. Outright shameful. Yes, I agree cars can be convenient, better for older people, women, possibly better for school kids and so on. But, really, is this kind of vehicular occupancy (106/80 = 1.3 people per car) going to help the traffic/pollution problem? Think car/bus footprint. Think emissions/km. Think running costs. Think fuel consumed per person. Multiply with the number of cars and buses. Compare.
Bangalore has a bus day every month when extra buses are run. It's on the 4th of each month. Is it enough? Do we need a no-car day? All car drivers should take the public transport system more regularly. What is the advantage of sitting in a car in traffic? Might as well take an air-conditioned Volvo and sit in it and do something selfless along the way.
I know this is an estimate and there would surely be models for calculating vehicular occupancies and a lot depends on the bus routes, time of the day, day of the week and many other factors, but for me, it seems almost criminal to drive a car with just me in it, always. One must pool or alternate with public transport more often than not.
They say 1 bus can remove 40 cars from the road. If only it got some help.
