In my state AP, public transport or the Town buses as we call are the cheapest transport. This transport system reaches even rural areas here.

How do we make public travel far better?

Normally all major cities are well connected in India through road and rail. Mangalore is connected through Air, rail and road ways to almost all district capitals within the state and major cities in India. There are as many as 120 buses operating between Bangalore and Mangalore every single day and half that number to Mumbai every day. But what is needed is good roads and also resting places in between with clean toilet facilities and food...There are a few places run by private individuals, but that is not enough since the places are packed to capacity every day

@Usha is very right in demanding clean toilets. I have had opportunity to travel abroad a few times. Everywhere I have seen neat toilets even after use. In India we seem to have some psychological and pathological hatred for the toilet. We enjoy misusing it. Leaving it more dirtier seems to be the purpose. Even in airports and in trains like Rajdhani one comes across dirty toilets. Such dirty toilets I saw only once in China.

In fact even the toilets in our major airports are not well maintained, goes to show how dirty people are in general.. We need to have more pay and use toilets with automatic flushing and cleaning facility. May be expensive to install but it can be recovered in time through collection !

vijay wrote:

@Usha is very right in demanding clean toilets. I have had opportunity to travel abroad a few times. Everywhere I have seen neat toilets even after use. In India we seem to have some psychological and pathological hatred for the toilet. We enjoy misusing it. Leaving it more dirtier seems to be the purpose. Even in airports and in trains like Rajdhani one comes across dirty toilets. Such dirty toilets I saw only once in China.

 

usha manohar wrote:

In fact even the toilets in our major airports are not well maintained, goes to show how dirty people are in general.. We need to have more pay and use toilets with automatic flushing and cleaning facility. May be expensive to install but it can be recovered in time through collection !

True..unless and until it is not made expensive people will use such facilities in a cheap manner and keep dirtying them. Recently I saw the photos of the newly inaugurated Gatiman Express as it looked form inside the very next day and it was hard to believe that people could be so dirty and irresponsible. It was a total mess!

I met two Indians in USA many years ago who boasted in humour that one of their favorite acts was openly urinating in good areas of New York. How can it be explained.

I guess Indians are the only people who take pride in this trait...I have seen Indian children urinating in the open school grounds in UK, in fact had the embarrassing experience of overhearing two teaching staff crticise and speak about it. They tend to think it is an accepted for of behavior here !!!!

But it is an accepted form of behaviour, isn't it?

usha manohar wrote:

In fact even the toilets in our major airports are not well maintained, goes to show how dirty people are in general.. We need to have more pay and use toilets with automatic flushing and cleaning facility. May be expensive to install but it can be recovered in time through collection !

 

With the introduction of New Railway reforms, by Suresh Prabhu, the conditions in all the trains are bound to improve. Of course, the reforms are expensive, but over a period, when the Passengers use the Railways,frequently, the ministry might think of reduction in charges.