ADB asked 3 young futurists to take the foresight report Reimagining the Future of Transport across Asia and the Pacific (ADB 2022) and immerse themselves in the future visions of the report. What stories would they be able to tell? Asked to imagine the transport experiences of a fictional persona, Virkein Dhar (India) introduces us to Rani. In this video, Virkein shares snippets from her future narrative, reflects on her experience and her view of the New Delhi’s urban future.
Transcript
I wasn't born in Delhi. But I have been here long enough to also see its transition from a big city to a big city that's overflowing now.
I think for me, it was really important to pick on a perspective that I can relate to myself. And I think that's where one of the major that challenges that we've seen, In Delhi, especially with transport is certainly safety. And particularly for half of the population, which is essentially women.
Oftentimes, I've felt that the city is made by men for men. And it ends up being that the infrastructure you build, the kind of transport you build, the way it works, all of it kind of has that gender lens to it. And the minute you kind of put on the kinds of things that women have to do and their use of transport in the city, I think it completely changes.
The shared rural service van was a preferred mode of transport to cover the last mile from a bus or train station to home. Particularly in the urban villages in the metropolis of Delhi, where Rani lived with her father and siblings. While it was well known that the prying eyes of men will fall on a lone woman travelling in the shared minivans, it was the only reliable and affordable option for Rani.
My character's name is Rani, which means ‘queen’ in Hindi. You know, she's hard working, but at the same time, may not be necessarily as privileged. I traverse the city of Delhi every day. But I have the privilege to be able to do it in my own car. And I think the single most reason for me to do it is often times just safety.
So when I was thinking about the future, I think one of the things that was important to also know is that what is the time horizon that we're talking about? I did veer towards creating this idealised future. But I think I kind of stopped myself and said, no, this is actually a possible future. A real future that is possible. Which essentially meant that you also go back to looking at what are the ways in which we're already seeing some of this happen?
In November 2031, Masrat and Rani hit a silver bullet. They had been working on a programme that had been analysing women’s trip patterns in comparison to men and found that the women having to take on a greater burden of childcare and household support, their trips were more complex, with multiple stops. Which could be dropping or picking up the kids on their way to work, buying groceries, or even taking care of elderly parents that live at a distance. This made their journey more expensive with single fare tickets during a chained trip, and the time taken between one stop and another was significant.
In this particular solution, building an app is not a new idea. It's an understood process. It's an understood format. But at the same time, looking at, let's say, real-time data information being collected. And as we capture, you also want to already start thinking about how you're going to use it. It's not just making the solutions, but what do you do with this? What is the approach that you take? I think it's really important for me, and that's why I decided to choose this particular future, so that it actually can become part of what we're doing at the moment.
