Drivers do their best to use up every inch of roadway, on either side of the center line. Motorbikes and three wheeled auto rickshaws maneuver around buses and between cars, all while managing to keep a surprisingly good eye out for pedestrians who basically fend for themselves crossing the street, or walking in the street where the sidewalk is blocked or nonexistent.
All that said, once you get over the crazyness of it all, you start to see that there is an order to it. There's a certain efficiency to using the entire road, including the space between where lanes would be. There's a certain democracy expressed in making cars (car-owning commuters make up only 12% of the population in Delhi) share the road with walkers and bikers (who make up 45% of the population). The congestion and caution needed ensure that cars rarely get going fast enough to do real damage.
Somewhat ironically, the worst traffic in the city is around the construction sites where the Metro is being built.
I think I've been navigating it all pretty well. We take an auto (as three-wheeled auto-rickshaws are called) to class each morning, and we usually leave before traffic gets really bad. Even at rush hour, though, a good auto driver will get you through most traffic pretty quickly. We almost always get ripped off when we get into autos--they all have meters, but they're never used; you agree on a price with the driver before getting in. I'm getting a little bit better at haggling, but when getting ripped off really only means paying the equivalent of $1.20 when the fare should be only $0.80, it often seems not worth waiting out in the sun for the next auto to come by.
1 comment:
This may be a preview of what S. Bear Swamp will look like if the surrounding land keeps getting divided. We'll bring this to the next planning commission meeting as a head's up.
Love both the words and pics.
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