Zebra crossings manned by police are still the best

Take a drive through the city and you can see skywalks galore that are rarely used by pedestrians. Instead, they prefer crossing the road at grade despite the heavy traffic. This is the reality, but the Bruhath Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is always planning and building more skywalks.

This thinking is also part of the signal-free corridors, proposed as a decongestion solution. The corridors mandate that the pedestrians use only the skywalks to get to the other side. But skywalks are often without lifts, and even when lifts are there, they are rarely in operation.

DH interacts with a cross-section of Bengalureans to understand how this will affect pedestrians, the senior citizens and the disabled in particular.

Agna Simon, a student of Mount Carmel College, observes: “Skywalks, apart from being a disadvantage to the disabled and senior citizens, are also not preferred by the general public. They like to cross roads at ground level even if that means risking their safety. Skywalks involve the burden of physical exertion to climb a large flight of stairs.”

More than aiding walkers, skywalks are used as a vantage platform for advertisements. “A lot of skywalks are built not for pedestrian safety but for advertisement revenue. This is why many of these structures are located in unfavourable places, far away from bus stops,” Agna points out.

Zebra crossings, she feels, have their benefits. “But these should be placed along with proper traffic lights. The traffic police should proactively help the disabled negotiate these crossing. As for skywalks, the authorities must consider the interests of the senior citizens.”

Meghraj Puthran, a consultant at Allstate, notes, “At junctions, when the traffic lights are red there should be some time allotted for pedestrians to cross the road safely. One minute would be sufficient for all pedestrians from four sides to cross an intersection.”

To make skywalks more usable, he suggests that the lifts can be replaced with escalators like the one at the KSR Railway Station. This model should be adopted wherever there are skywalks, he adds.

Sonu, a resident of Tavarakare, says, “When we drive through the city, careless crossing of the road by pedestrians will always create problems. Skywalks are the best option so that those who drive do not need to stop at each and every signal. This will definitely help to reduce traffic. The sad part is nobody uses these skywalks.”

The BBMP, he says, should make it mandatory for all pedestrians to take skywalks. For the disabled, zebra-crossings can be an option. This will not hold up traffic for much time unlike large crowds.

In the words of Jairaj Kalshetti, a resident of J P Nagar, the existing crossings at the junctions should be retained. “Using skywalks will consume a lot of time. Instead of spending a lot of money on building more skywalks, make the zebra crossings and junctions user-friendly and smarter for everyone, including the disabled and the elderly.”

If at all the skywalks are required, Kalshetti suggests them to be built near schools, hospitals, bus stops and metro stations. “This will help more pedestrians. Merely building infrastructure will not do. It should be useful to the public.”