Unny (www.travelwithacouple.com)
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Vinod, The Mumbai approach might not work in Chennai. Chennai is not as big as Mumbai, and obviously not as populated as Mumbai. There is an estimated 90,000 autorikshaws in Chennai. Taking them outside city is going to affect their livelihood. And who will subsidise taxi fare?
Encouraging people to use public transport instead of private vehicles for daily commutting is the solution (In Mumbai also such campaigns happen - 'Use Public transport, Save Mumbai' kind of campaigns). For this to happen, Public transport has to improve. A Public - Private partnership is the best way to tackle this. eg. The TVS group (the transport division, based at Madurai i suppose) can be given the contract to run the city bus service, as a public - private partnership. TVS is just an example - simply because of their experience in transport industry and credibility.
The auto 'menace' has to be tackled separately. It is a bane, not just in Chennai, but any other city/town in Tamilnadu - be it Coimbatore, Ooty, Madura, Trichy, Tuticorin... I frankly cannot understand how can this be in all parts of a state. Is this a cultural problem? It is not there in Karnataka and not in Kerala.... It is another big debate. The politician-police-auto nexus need to be broken. And we don't know how to do it.
Rgds
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