The Trouble With Tata

Dane recently wrote a post about how he's torn about Tata's introduction of the Tata Nano. Torn, because how can he deny others a car when he drove a car himself for many years.

A year ago, when the car was announced, I had many of the same feelings as Dane. I lived in LA, I drove a car regularly, and I felt hypocritical for denying others what I had.

Then I went back to India for the first time in five years. And I quickly realized that the last thing Mumbai needs are more cars on the roads.

Here's the thing. You know what neither Dane (I'm assuming) nor I own right now?

Cars.

Why? Because we live in London. And having a car here would be a major, major pain.

In big, densely populated cities, cars simply don't make sense. This isn't about equality, it's about contextualizing environments. Driving a car in London is a misery-inducing experience. Driving a car in Mumbai is even worse.

That's why I'm not a big fan of the Tata Nano: in my mind, it's not the right way to go about increasing human welfare. I think Mumbai needs to be more friendly to people instead of cars. Instead of adding more cars to already congested roads, I think Mumbai needs more sidewalk space and public transportation. (Luckily, the Mumbai Metro, a public-private partnership in mass transit, is supposed to launch in three years. Why didn't Tata invest in that instead?)

I know that there are people who would disagree with my assessment. In a city as dense as Mumbai, private space is at a premium. I understand that for some, the dream of the Tata Nano is not about getting somewhere faster, but having a square meter of space to call your own. But a car is simply not the right way to deal with the lack of private space issue.

In the end, my issue with the Tata Nano has nothing to do with the carbon emissions generated, though I admit that its a problem as well. Instead, I simply don't believe that a Mumbai where every family owns two cars will be a city in which people will be happy.