Good morning, Chennai!
☀️ Today’s weather: High: 33 ℃ | Low: 23 ℃ | Clear and sunny weather for the day.
🧐 Did you know? The Guindy Engineering College, now Anna University, was the first institution outside Europe to teach engineering and British law.
🚗 Car rally for a cause
The Brailles on Wheels car rally will help foster inclusivity tailored for the visually impaired.
What’s it about? The event scheduled for this Sunday, in collaboration with the National Association for the Blind, will see a visually impaired driver guide a sighted driver through a 35 km circuit in Chennai. This will be the 33rd edition of the car rally.
- The event will focus on raising awareness toward those who are visually impaired by providing them support. This will help foster inclusiveness and employment opportunities.
- To navigate the specially designed 36 km route, some instructions will be given for certain sections. It emphasises the trust between the sighted driver and the visually impaired guide.
Fostering a community: The event is expected to see 100-150 cars participate. It will provide a platform for individuals to connect with visually impaired people and understand their experiences.
🚍 Transportation survey results
A new survey showed most people in the city use public transportation.
What’s it about? Among the takeaways from the Ease of Moving Index – Chennai City Profile survey was that 95% of the respondents said they regularly used public transportation between 2022 and 2023. The results were released by the OMI Foundation in partnership with IIT Madras.
- According to the report, residents took an average of 8 minutes and nine seconds to reach their nearest transit hub by walking or cycling. 31.1% expressed dissatisfaction with the waiting period for public transport, which was 9 minutes on average.
- Among regular users, 90.22% also owned a private vehicle. 38.6% of them chose not to use their personal vehicle due to the reliability of public transport and other options like autos and cabs.
Chennai stands apart: Concerning the average time of eight minutes and nine seconds taken to reach the nearest transport hub, only Mumbai has a shorter average time. Chennai also has a 75% share in active transport modes and shared mobility.
👮 Traffic challans at your doorstep
The Chennai Traffic Police will now hand deliver traffic challans to repeat offenders.
What’s it about? To crack down on elusive violators and repeat offenders, the traffic police have introduced a new system to home-deliver traffic challans. It mainly targets those detected by the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras spread across the city.
- A special team of 120 constables have been assigned to track down individuals who have evaded payments or whose vehicle information makes them difficult to locate.
- When the violation is recorded, a team gets the vehicle and owner details and generates a challan. It’s then sent to them accompanied by text alerts. However, in some cases, the correct phone numbers weren’t linked to the vehicle numbers.
A good move: One transportation activist welcomed the move since there’s a certain intimidation factor when a police constable turns up at your doorstep. It adds an added layer of deterrence.
🚌 Shortage of a/c buses
The MTC is dealing with a shortage of air-conditioned buses as the city prepares for summer.
What’s it about? The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) currently has only 40 A/C buses in its fleet along six routes. Nearly one-sixth of the 4 lakh daily commuters depend on these limited A/C buses. The demand is likely to increase as the summer months approach.
- MTC officials argued that the demand isn’t uniform across all routes. It’s mainly due to A/C bus tickets being costlier than ordinary ones.
- Ideally, at least 40% of the fleet should be air-conditioned in places with high affordability indices, like Tambaram and Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR). The MTC currently operates only 20 A/C buses on OMR, an IT hub.
A switch to the metro? With few A/C buses and inadequate bus stop infrastructure, more people are likely to switch to the metro for a more comfortable travel experience even though it costs more. There’s some evidence of this since metro ridership has doubled compared to pre-Covid levels.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Have you ever had a tooth filled?
- I have had a tooth filled.
- I haven’t had a tooth filled.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
If you could be one animal for a day, which would it be?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- A look at Chennai’s journey to becoming a haven for the illegal pet trade.
- Madras University researchers have unearthed a neolithic site near Chengalpet containing a skeleton of a child.
- The state government is unlikely to provide financial support to the University of Madras.
- The MTC will introduce a new automated bus ticketing system and 1,500 e-buses.
- A heritage walk will uncover the history behind Mandavelipakkam.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll:
- I would travel to space: 57.1% 🏆
- I wouldn’t travel to space: 42.9%
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
What’s the most bizarre or unique food combination you’ve tried?
Suchi: “Chinese noodles and butter chicken”
That’s it for today. Have a great day!