In a Peak Bengaluru moment this month, a walking tour group organized a 15-day ‘BLR Walkfest,’ getting people to find out if the city is ‘walkable.’
True to the city’s brand-it-and-we’ll-do-it culture, about a hundred people signed up for every walk, which included talks on historic landmarks and lots of filter-coffee drinking, to see if they could do what millions of Indians do daily—use pavements to get around the city on foot.
Many Indians ride in cushy carriages all their lives without ever stepping on a footpath, but a vast majority, most of them poor, either walk to work or work on paved sidewalks. We are so short of pedestrian infrastructure that if jaywalking were illegal in India, as it is in some countries, it would legally be impossible to get from point A to point B on foot.
This is not to say Indians don’t walk: 2011 Census data shows that more than 45 million Indians get to work at distant locations on foot, compared to 5 million in cars and 24 million on two-wheelers. The typical commute for these 45 million is in a range of 2-5km, which means that’s the likely distance they must walk.
But we clearly don’t have the infrastructure to support them. About 19% of our 150,000 road-accident deaths in 2021 were of pedestrians, going by road transport ministry data. If the numbers are sifted further to look at just street-mishap deaths in cities, pedestrians make up one-fourth of the fatalities, and more than half of those were people aged under 45.
We are losing young working adults who support families and contribute to the economy because our urban spaces are not designed for everyone. And given the obstacle course urban pedestrians face, they’re forced to waste time and energy that could be put to better use.
If good roads lead to prosperity, the same applies to walkways, especially in an economy that needs the bulk of its people on an upward-mobility path for overall demand to grow. Yet, our walkers suffer neglect, left to play a dangerous game of dodge with vehicles of every shape and size. Footpaths vanish without warning, turning a walk into an adventure sport.
Many pavements act as storage spaces for everything from construction debris to gas cylinders. Bikes and cars encroach freely. And stepping on a slab that gives way beneath one’s feet is a common horror. Skywalks are mostly an afterthought and their endless steps could prepare one for an Everest Base Camp trek. For the elderly and disabled, the dangers multiply.
Despite motor cars being around for more than a century, most Indian cities lack what it takes for pedestrians and vehicles to co-exist in peace. Creating pedestrian infrastructure is not as simple as laying down a few footpaths; it is about considering every citizen’s needs.
For walkers to lead more productive and less risky lives, we need safe streets, interconnected footpaths and well-designed road intersections, apart from street lighting that actually works, active policing to prevent crime and law-abiding drivers. Walking has many benefits—for physical and mental health, the economy and the environment.
Public-policy plans and guidelines abound on inclusive infrastructure, but evidence of their implementation is scarce. It’s almost as if infra-driven growth is expected to be a motorized affair.
We need a footpath challenge of the kind Bengaluru hosted in many more cities where influential folks rarely walk along the paths that millions do. We must all know what it’s like walking 2-5km to earn a living.
