Subways?

What do you think when you hear the word subway?

If you think the Subway sandwich ..then you are in a overwhelming majority of people in India.Why?

Surely Subway is not that big and omnipotent a brand to have that instant recall.

Subways and skywalks are missing from the Indian architectural milieu. It is because that we have so few of them in India. There are some here and there ,but not nearly enough.

In Europe, I gather, they stop their cars for pedestrians to move, in India we only stop for cattle.. where cattle are speed inspectors. It is about time we pay attention to the sidewalks, skywalks and subways..India revels in mixed traffic so subways should be made so that people can cross streets without disrupting traffic and risking lives.

This is not to denigrate or anything ,its just the way it is.Sharjah has it..so does Abu Dhabi.I am not saying that the Sharjah or Abu Dhabi municipality is the best in the world, but they had a sense of building subways that would enable smoother traffic flow. It does make sense to make subways so that pedestrians don’t have to mix with live and mixed traffic.

Especially in India where there are so many people teeming on the roads and foothpaths wherever there is a footpath.

Sure Mumbai has some subways .Not the least at the CST junction for people to cross the DN road and you hear about Milan subway on western line only during monsoons.. Bangalore has a huge,dusty and pathetic one in Majestic for people to cross from bus station to Bangalore city junction – but finding its entrance is a task in itself!Interestingly, there is a hidden subway in Ahmedabad – one that connects old IIM-A campus to the new IIM-A zone.. but it is private and immaculate..
Subways can be clean, cooler than the heat outside, ideal for advertisements and a place for cultural freedom and expression in the form of graffiti !!

Walking and crossing roads shouldn’t be potential hazard..and I wait for the day when in schools ,children will be taught to always take the subways to cross the road . It is not that great an engineering feat to pull off – I wonder if we really have got good town planners who have given this a thought.