Editorial: Rapid Response

The Tamil Nadu State Budget 2025 rightly notes that the State is experiencing one of the highest rates of urbanisation and concomitant challenges. Accordingly, the budget was given a strong transportation focus which could meet some of the needs of growing cities. The state government is planning some mega initiatives which would revolutionise urban transportation so that it meets the present and future needs of cities that are expanding due to rapid economic growth. Three initiatives need to be mentioned in this regard. They are the ‘Regional Rapid Transit System’ (RRTS) to connect the city with the periphery, a multimodal transport terminal in Guindy and the expansion of the Mini Bus scheme to improve last-mile connectivity.

Two main problems urban planners find challenging are traffic congestion and lack of space for parking vehicles. This is obviously due to the increasing number of private, personal vehicles — both two-wheelers and four-wheelers — in Chennai and the problem of varying magnitude is reportedly being faced by every other big city of the state. According to government statistics, of the 3.72 crore vehicles in the city, every sixth vehicle is hitting the road. This causes both congestion and parking problems.

One of the solutions being considered is the RRTS, which is a rail-based system that connects the city to places in the neighbouring districts bordering the city and beyond. The government is exploring the feasibility of setting up three RRTS corridors, namely Chennai-Chengalpattu-Tindivanam-Villupuram (167 km), Chennai-Kancheepuram-Vellore (140 km), Coimbatore-Tirupur-Erode-Salem (185 km).

It will be on the lines of the Semi-High-Speed Railway (SHR) between New Delhi and Meerut. This system will have higher speeds (up to 160 km), relatively more frequent and have fewer stations. People working in Chennai are wary of living in suburbs and growing satellite townships and adjacent district headquarters fearing long commute time. But the RRTS enables accessing the city in a shorter time thus giving them the best of both worlds — life in a spacious, less congested town and working in the commercial and official hub of the city. This will not only solve transportation-related challenges but also increase productivity and quality of living.

Another initiative that complements RRTS is the development of new cities while strengthening and developing existing cities. According to the State Budget, a 2000-acre sprawling “global” city with world-class facilities and infrastructure will be developed near Chennai. The new city not only will have office and commercial spaces, but also multi-storeyed residential buildings for different socioeconomic segments of society. The proposed new city will be seamlessly connected to Chennai. TIDCO will commence the first phase of work of the proposed “global city” project.

Regarding parking problems, the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) is coming up with a new policy, which was reported by DTNext. The new parking policy includes charging variable parking fees calculated based on some variables and furnishing proof of parking to register a vehicle.

CUMTA’s mandate is to work on improving transport and transport infrastructure and its jurisdiction extends to the whole Chennai Metropolitan Area Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu and Ranipet.

The government’s plans will have only a limited effect if people are not oriented to a new way of living which includes living in places away from the commercial and other hubs of Chennai but are able to commute using public transport which is affordable (low-priced), comfortable and requires reduced time for commuting. Making it a social movement is critical for the success of official policies and technological solutions.