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Galle Road uni-flow woes
TIMES POSTCARD
By Rajpal Abeynayake
No doubt this column is usually written in a satirical vein - - but a postcard is a postcard, and understandably something on a somewhat more serious note can be written home as well. So without much circumambulation, to get to the subject at hand, it is worth asking why everybody is being mealy- mouthed and critical about the new arrangement of uni-flow traffic in Galle Road which was trial-tested for two days around a week back.

"Typically Sri Lankan" should be the reaction to this state of affairs even though that might get the goat of some Sinhala nationalists perhaps.But "typically Sri Lankan'' it is, because the fact is that there was much merit in the uni-flow traffic system that it should have been in operation immediately after the two trials. Nothing was said by anybody about how easy commuting on Galle Road was on those two days -- but we guess it is because Sri Lankans, judging by what appear in the papers, would rather prefer to languish hours on end in traffic, inhaling toxic fumes, rather than get about their business, or at least be pleasantly hedonistic.

But what was highlighted was not the innovativeness - - and the excellent upshot of the uni-flow system which saw the smooth flow of traffic which was almost a miracle on Colombo roads, but rather, the fact that a few residents had complained. Of course we do not envy few residents in the Kollupitiya/Wellawatte areas their inconvenience, but a few things can be said about their predicament. Among these:

a) If they planned their journeys a little in advance, they could have got to a side of Galle Road from which they could have turned into their lanes without crossing the islands. At the most such advance planning would have entailed but a minor deviation from their original routes of travel. But, weigh this against the benefit that the new traffic plans accrued to thousands upon thousands of commuters who travelled from the suburban areas of Dehiwela, Mt Lavinia etc., who were immensely benefited by the efficiency and speed of the new traffic system?

b) Minor inconveniences may have arisen with regard to parking in certain places of business etc., but considering that parking is a problem even in areas in which there is no traffic problem at all, this is a more than a proper complaint a whine from a somewhat pampered section of the community. Greater convenience for the mass of commuters entails a little sacrifice on the part of a few -- but catch Sri Lankans wanting to give up a few of their privileges for the greater good?

c) There were other hilarious complaints such as some from commuters who said that they had to "get down from the buses and walk'' to wherever their destinations were. This really has to be rich. We did not know that public transport used to deposit everyone wherever they were supposed to go, even if it was Mars or the moon. The fact is that some people are quite used to doing things a certain way that when change comes, they are almost obsessively upset at being shaken out of their regular routines. Eventually people who think they have to walk or hitch a ride a few extra meters will do so - and some others might even discover that their journeys have in fact been made shorter as a result, depending on their destinations.

d) But the biggest mystery of it all is that they might discover - - since they haven't already during the one day trial - - that their journey taken as a whole has been made much more convenient due to advantage in terms of time gained as a result of smooth flow of traffic in the uni-flow system.

But instead of talking of this very obvious advantage we have these litany of complaints highlighted in the papers as if a calamity has hit the city. It does say something about the mentality of inertia - - but also it smacks of a petty conspiracy, perhaps on the part of some disgruntled officers or others who envy the success of the new traffic plan engineered by Traffic SSP Lafir.

The last point is that our politicians are a bunch of no-goods. They have been able to do sweet zilch for the roads and the traffic systems in the city in terms of better infrastructure (flyovers etc.,) whereas a few flyovers and underpasses etc., would have been a tremendous boon to a system of clogged arteries. All they can think of is a toll for traffic, when even a city like Madras (Chennai) has flyovers and other modern infrastructure systems to aid the smooth flow of traffic. So where the politicians have failed us miserably a traffic SSP has been able to innovate. I say Lafir for President! Let's raise our hat to him and help him get the show on the road, notwithstanding the whiners who would rather be fumigated for long hours in the streets by toxic fumes.

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