Vote!!! Your Voice Matters

***Vote!!! Your Voice Matters***

IISc celebrated Open Day on 4th March 2023 to demonstrate the research activities happening in the institute to the public. Therefore, IISc Sustainable Transportation Lab. (IST lab.) extended its welcoming hand to the public to showcase the research happening in the lab through poster presentations and activities. One of the activities was “Vote!!! Your Voice Matters” in which, Polling was conducted on different transportation options from the perspective of transportation systems engineering, and people gave their vote by placing a dot against their preferred choices. The aim is to understand the public view on a few transportation measures discussed at the institutional level.

The options considered for polling are explained as follows:

  1. Pedestrianization vs. Without Complete Pedestrianization:
    1. Completely pedestrianized (vehicle-free) streets in urban centers and streets with higher pedestrian footfall
    2. No change (Do nothing) scenario, i.e., streets include the interaction of pedestrians and vehicles.
    3. People put on their perspectives based on their happiness, safety, and mental well-being to vote.
  2. Congestion Pricing vs. No Congestion Pricing:
    1. Congestion pricing is the concept of rush hour pricing used to divert the traffic during peak hours by making people choose different modes to commute or off-peak periods for travelling.
    2. People voted with the perspective of decongesting the city centers.
  3. Elevated Corridor vs. Metro Corridor:
    1. Elevated corridor is generally suggested to solve Bengaluru’s traffic problems.
    2. Metro corridor can carry nearly 2,000 passengers at a time.
    3. People voted based on their perceived comfort, convenience, etc.
  4. Segregated walking or cycling lanes vs. More new roads for cars:
    1. An infrastructural-based suggestion, i.e., segregated lanes for walking or cycling to avoid the intervention with motorized vehicles to mobilize safety for pedestrians and cyclists.
    2. As car ownership is on the rise along with traffic congestion, more roads for cars are also demanded.
    3. People voted for a scenario with the aspect of which promotes Quality of life.

Polling Results:

  • Total number of votes received: 239

Table 1. Voting results for different transportation aspects.

S. No

Option A

Option B

Votes for A

Votes for B

Votes for both

Votes for none

I

Completely Pedestrianized

Not Completely Pedestrianized

194 (81%)

44 (18%)

1 (0%)

0 (0%)

II

Congestion Pricing

No Congestion Pricing

182 (76%)

29 (12%)

0 (0%)

26 (12%)

III

Elevated Corridor

Metro Corridor

47 (20%)

185 (77%)

5 (2%)

2 (1%)

IV

Segregated walking or Cycling lanes

More new roads for cars

184 (77%)

40 (17%)

2 (1%)

11 (5%)

      Note: Highest voted options are highlighted in red.

Picture: Activity board with votes.

  • In all the scenarios, very few people considered that both scenarios have a significant role, so they voted for both by placing the green dot over the orange dot.
  • In scenarios II and IV, very few did not cast their votes as they felt perplexed.

Suggestions:

  • People actively participated in the event of voting, which then led them to give us suggestions in some areas, which are as follows:
    1. Despite adding segregated lanes for cycling and walking, people also suggested separated bus lanes as it is in high demand.
    2. People also suggested promoting access to mass transit more than private vehicles.
    3. Also, the need for last-mile connectivity was mentioned by a few.

Picture: IST Lab volunteer explaining the interaction between sustainable transportation measures and Quality of Life (QOL)

Picture: Participant polling for their preferred transportation measure

Picture: Volunteers at the end of voting activity

 

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