The Bhutanese Leading the way.
By Kinley Tenzin Wangchuk
Whenever I drive in the Thimphu city traffic, I’m reminded of a song The Pretender by Jackson Browne which is about settling for less than our dreams, feeling stuck in the mundane routines of life.
I’m gonna rent myself a house
In the shade of a freeway
Gonna pack my lunch in the morning
And go to work each day
And when the evening rolls around
I’ll go on home and lay my body down
And when the morning light comes streaming in
I’ll get up and do it again, Amen. Say it again, Amen.
And the only sure difference is-the traffic on our roads is increasing each day. Thimphu is said to have the highest number of registered vehicles in the country as of May this year, with 70,457 on the roads. Looking at the number and size of new vehicle purchases, the congestion on our city roads will further spike in the months and years ahead.
At a recent meet the press session, the Government acknowledged that Thimphu city’s urban infrastructure is reaching “saturation point,” and a shift in how people move around is urgently needed. “Our goal is to improve public transport and prioritise non-motorised transport so that fewer people rely on private vehicles.”
This recognition by the Government brings much relief to Thimphu residents. though its mainly envisioning long-term policy and structural changes. Past Governments too have tried and tested various initiatives to reduce the congestion. These have resulted in the expansion of the roads, introduction of larger city buses, erection of shelters along the bus stops, new construction of multi-level car parks (MLCPs), and of course, the ubiquitous deployment of Traffic Police on our roads.
All these initiatives though well-intended have not reduced the congestion on our roads nor brought about improved behavioral changes in the drivers and road users.
On the contrary, the broadening and expansion of the roads have only encouraged more vehicles on the road and more irresponsible and wreckless driving leading to more road crashes and even loss of lives.
We don’t know if the large city buses have encouraged vehicle owners to be more sparing with their car keys and hop onto the buses?
The bus stop shelters that have been put-up neither prevent the users from the sun, wind, rain and dust but are strange eye-sores along our roads.
In 2019, the Dutch city of Utrecht introduced 300 new sustainable bus stops with plant and grass covered rooftops. They not only support biodiversity by attracting bees and other insects, but also capture fine dust particles, store rainwater and reduce heat stress in the city in summer. Their transparent design helps to reduce crime and increase citizens’ sense of security. They are made of eco-friendly material and use LED lights. In short, what strikes us as so smart is that a number of social and morally desirable properties are all realized here in one coherent design. A number of serious problems are, if not solved, at least effectively addressed in one fell swoop. A number of societal requirements are embedded and expressed in the invention.
What this really teaches us is that our shared values should be and often are, expressed and exemplified in a proper manner in what we design and make.
Our MLCPs, are found to be under-utilized or even abandoned on occasions. A study by Thimphu Thromde last year found that MLCPs were seen as inconvenient due to poor accessibility, unfriendly design features like narrow turns, insufficient lighting, and unclean conditions. Some city residents were unaware the facilities even existed. This is concerning as studies have revealed that upto 30% of traffic in cities is caused by drivers looking for parking.
Noam Chomsky, the American professor and public intellectual once suggested that our ignorance can be divided into problems and mysteries. When we face a problem, we may not know its solution, but we have insight, increasing knowledge, and an inkling of what we are looking for. When we face a mystery, however, we can only stare in wonder and bewilderment, not knowing what an explanation would even look like. Have we in our bewilderment, come up with answers and solutions to mysteries without understanding and upgrading them into problems?
These examples are clear reminders that we not only need to be more innovative with our ideas but also re-think our priorities and seriously question how things were done in the past. These mistakes are egregious and call for accountability and atonement in the use and waste of public resources, but they have mostly been left unquestioned and unaccounted.
Though long-term envisioning and policy changes announced by the Government are important, there are some urgent and near-term measures that we can adopt and implement to reduce the congestion and stress on our city roads:
Driving as a shared culture of civility
We often fail to realize that the people who have the most influence on society are actually the normal folks, through their normal, everyday gestures being considerate and kind in public places, attentive to the traffic rules. Once we are on the road, nobody’s more equal than all the others-the bigger and flashier cars don’t have the right of way, more than the smaller, less expensive cars except in certain privileged and emergency situations. Every car and every life is equally precious and we are all, called upon to move in traffic with good sense and prudence. As Richard Reeves of the Brookings Institution points out, driving is precisely the sort of everyday activity through which people mold the culture of their community.
Driving is governed by law, but it’s also shaped by norms. If enough people adopt the same driving style, then that behavior hardens into communal disposition. Kindness breeds kindness. Aggression breeds aggression. The intuition is if you are aggressive, you will get to your destination faster. Studies have shown that if you are less aggressive, you’ll get there faster.
In short, driving puts you into social situations in which you have to co-construct a shared culture of civility, and go against our own primeval selfishness.
We can all make a huge difference on the road by obeying traffic rules that were created for our own safety, and by being courteous to other drivers.
Reduce “zebra crossings”
The number and frequency of zebra crossings need to be looked at and reduced where it is not needed. There are atleast, sixteen zebra crossings beginning from the Bhutan Petroleum Depot fuel station to the round-about at Chubachu, a stretch of road less than a mile long. Some of these along the Norzin Lam are placed at less than ten to fifteen metres apart. Do we need that many along the main thoroughfare? Some perhaps, can even be replaced by overhead passes erected at appropriate places. We can learn from our past mistakes and come-up with better and more elegant structures that merge with our local sensibilities.
These erratic and sudden stops at the zebra crossings creates ripple effects leading to more sustained traffic jams. The pedestrian crossings where required should aways be prominently marked and freshly painted to ensure it is noticed and adhered to by the road users.
Install traffic signals
Thimphu as the only capital town or city without traffic lights has outworn its charm and the introduction of traffic lights at key intersections, arterial roads and down town locations in the city will lead to better and smoother traffic flow. Installing traffic signals and reducing unnecessary zebra crossings will not only cut delays and travel time but also free our men and women in uniform for more urgent and important tasks elsewhere.
The constant supervision and monitoring by men/women in uniform not only convey the feeling that ‘’Big Brother Is Watching” but may also lead to an actual reduction in spontaneous thought and independent action?
As congestion and traffic jams directly contribute to stress in the cities by causing psychological strain, increasing health issues, and negatively impacting productivity, these suggested near-term and quick to implement measures will improve the smoother flow of our traffic and lead to improved quality of life for all residents in our city.
