2025: the city of Kolkata completely banned tram services and trams. You know, they are very, very ecologically efficient. but they have been replaced.
And now, with Ola and Uber, the emission has increased like anything; it’s manifold. So, on one hand, you just ‘win’—there are advertisements, there are only the ‘good things’ about this private transport sector. We are assuming, but actually, you know, the hidden stories and the ‘wickedness’ of the problem… it’s not discussed.
So, yeah, so I think like, you know, several issues are associated. So the central locus is transport, but there are so many other aspects which are completely interconnected to this. And that is where the ‘wickedness’ of the problem lies.
So now, I think I would like to talk about the different layers of wickedness and how transport spirals into other components and makes it even more wicked.
So, the lack of public transportation is in itself a wicked urban problem. It itself, and also, it leads to different kinds of social, economic, and political problems in the city as well.
For example, in terms of environment: the lack of public transportation will lead to releasing of carbon emissions to the city and also to the wider and greater area of the city. So, that will create heat islands within different regions of the city; and also, people will be able to feel or encounter this kind of disparity in terms of economic, in terms of ecological, differently.
This also leads to the exclusion of the people who are not able to support their transportation. They have to pay for the taxi; they have to pay for the very high-price transportation through the application company.
And also, the lack of transportation also leads to energy consumption, especially in terms of gas which is fuel energy. That also creates a lot of global environment problems.
Another part of the lack of public transportation will lead to also uncertainty and also risky livelihood in the city. For example, if you have a disaster happen in the city, the lack of transportation will also impact the people who reside in the city.
