Friday, March 13, 2009

Free the left lane - UPS proves us right!

http://www.pressroom.ups.com/mediakits/factsheet/0,1889,1493,00.html

UPS is the world's largest package delivery company and a global leader in supply chain services, offering an extensive range of options for synchronizing the movement of goods, information and funds.

In 2007, UPS implemented a new route planning technology, which minimizes left hand turns that:
  • shaved nearly 30 million miles off already streamlined delivery routes;
  • saved 3 million gallons of gas; and
  • reduced emissions by 32,000 metric tons of CO2 - the equivalent of removing 5,300 passenger cars off the road for an entire year.
This is huge! If one were to calculate the amount of time , fuel and CO2 emission that can be saved/reduced by freeing up Left Lanes in India (keep in mind that USA has a right lane driving), the numbers could be significant because of the high density of traffic here. What started as a simple experiment in July 2007 after getting stuck in traffic jams at Cyber Towers now has quantifiable benefits as demonstrated by UPS' adoption of this rule.

I wonder if a similar study can be done for Indian roads to figure out what savings can be achieved by having the left lanes free for traffic turning left. If I had more time, I'd probably reach out to car manufacturers, oil companies and supply chain companies to help with this study. The funny part is that having better traffic or at least free left lanes would help almost every Indian road user (except if there is someone who absolutely doesn't take left turns for reasons best know to him), yet nobody seems to be interested in doing something about it. I have been working very hard for the last few months ; that, coupled with feeble interest displayed by citizens to help with traffic improvement as resulted in me taking a back seat as far as new projects and initiatives go.

2 comments:

Appin Technology Lab, Madhapur, Hyderabad said...

Cool..As the infrastructure in India is expanding such initiatives are a must.

Sreenidhi said...

I saw this link on an Alto today morning, and decided to check out the link :) must say was quite useful. But I donno if Hyderabadis will ever learn the rules of traffic, it will be a very long time before the erratic drivers get a sense of driving.