After more than two decades of regulatory confusion, the Tamil Nadu government has come out with a draft new Comprehensive Mini Bus Scheme, 2024, to provide public transport connectivity in the far corners of the State. There is no segregation of rural and...
Wayfinding is part of global travel culture but in India it poses a serious challenge. Even in the era of national job mobility and a post-COVID tourism wave, governments don’t make it easy for people to find public places and essential facilities even in the biggest cities. Indian politicians...
Close on the heels of crippling rain and flood in Chennai during 2021, the 2023 monsoon has wreaked havoc in the city and later in the Thoothukudi - Tirunelveli belt in Tamil Nadu. It is becoming clear that the pattern of urbanisation and urban planning in the State has exposed communities to...
At least 15 people have died on a stretch of a national highway in prosperous Tamil Nadu that connects Tiruvannamalai and Bengaluru in just ten days during October 2023, bringing the State closer to another dubious road traffic accident record. Only some months ago, Union Transport Minister...
Chennai’s bus operator Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) has a staggering 504 driver vacancies, 75 conductor vacancies and 246 technical positions unfilled as of May 2023, while the oldest bus in the fleet is an ancient 17.4 years, data obtained under the Right to Information Act shows....
Whether smaller cities like Madurai and Coimbatore need costly Metro rail systems is a widely discussed theme, and the critiques start to bite when the pattern of underinvestment in existing ‘low capacity’ systems such as buses, mini-buses and smaller vehicles shows little effort to get it...
Chennai Mayor R. Priya’s week-long trip from Saturday to Spain, France and Italy with a focus on best practices for Solid Waste Management (SWM) should be a welcome development as she would see how countries in the European Union (EU) are faring on targets for reuse and recycling of Municipal...
Sometime in 2023, India is expected to be formally declared the world’s most populous country, overtaking China. This certain development underscored by the UN report on World Population Prospects 2022 holds high significance for India, given the varied experiences it has had with the uneven...
The horrific three-train pile-up involving the Coromandel Express that has led to hundreds of deaths and thousands injured has led experts to spotlight delays in railways implementing the accident prevention system called Kavach. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways in the Lok Sabha...
Chennai’s Semmozhi Poonga, which experiences fluctuating fortunes based on who is in power at Fort St. George is all set to host a short three-day flower show from June 3. To prepare the park for the event, funds have flowed in for beautification, including laying of granite walkways. Also in...
