Are Footpaths Even For Walking?

Dear Reader,

A friend recently told me about a walk he took in Bengaluru.

He usually takes an auto for that stretch, but it was a pleasant day so he decided to get some exercise. He had been walking for less than five minutes when a bike zoomed past him on the footpath.

Startled, he moved further to the left.

Soon enough, another bike came down the footpath. This one almost hit him.

The biker stopped, turned around and said: “Paagal hai kya? Footpath bhi koi chalne ki jagah hai?” or “Are you mad? Is a footpath a place to walk?”

It’s difficult to miss the irony. Because, of course, footpaths are meant for walking. 

India is a country of walkers. Around 45 million people walk to work every day. Nearly a third of urban workers travel on foot. Almost every bus or metro journey begins and ends with a walk. 

And yet, the infrastructure for the most common way of moving stays the most neglected. 

“Parking and street vendors are the two biggest challenges to proper walking infrastructure,” said Vedant Mhatre, who works at Walking Project, a Mumbai-based advocacy group that has been pushing for better footpaths since 2012. 

That’s despite the fact the law already has provisions for both. 

The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, recognises street vendors as a legitimate part of the urban landscape while requiring cities to ensure pedestrian movement is not obstructed.

And Indian standards and several city-level policies call for on-street parking to be managed and charged so that it does not take over pedestrian space.

In practice, though, enforcement remains weak.

Vedant says part of the problem is that the people who make decisions about our streets, including politicians and municipal officials, rarely walk themselves. 

But, there could be some hope. 

In June of this year, the Supreme Court recognised the right to safe, continuous footpaths as a fundamental right, in a case involving a five-year-old boy who was killed by a tanker while walking to school with his father on a road without a footpath.

The law now recognises our right to walk.

But what will it take to make that right a reality?

That’s what we explore in the latest episode of The Signal Brief, with consumers and experts looking at why walking in Indian cities can be such a struggle, and what could change it.

You can find The Signal Brief on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

Thank you once again for listening and supporting us. We’d love to hear from you; write to us at [email protected] or find us on Instagram or X at @thesignaldotco.

Best,
Kudrat
on behalf of The Core

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