Why Traffic in Our Cities Never Gets Better? HCE31 | Karel Martens| Ruchita Bansal

What if traffic isn’t the real problem?For decades, cities have been designed to keep vehicles moving—not to help people live better lives. In this episode of The Human City Podcast, we unpack why our transport systems fail so many people, even when they seem “efficient.”From car-first planning to invisible inequalities in everyday travel, this conversation challenges everything we assume about mobility.We talk about:Why solving traffic doesn’t mean serving peopleThe difference between mobility and accessibilityWhy some groups are consistently left out of transport systemsThe hidden bias in how cities are designed and measuredWhy owning a car is not the same as having freedomAnd what a truly fair transport system could look likeIf you’ve ever wondered why getting around still feels difficult—this will change how you see your city.Chapters: 00:00 How Transport Planning Lost Its Way?03:24 Historical Context of Transportation Planning04:52 The Wrong Question in Transport06:00 Accessibility vs. System Performance07:29 Can Transport Serve Everyone?08:32 Why Philosophy Matters in Planning?09:48 Amsterdam: The Misunderstood Model11:40 Accessibility and the Last Mile Challenge13:49 Gender Perspective in Urban Transport15:12 The Invisible Trips: Understanding Travel Behavior15:40 Policies for Transport Justice17:01 Financing Transport: A Radical Proposal19:15 From Theory to Practice: Implementing Change20:39 Why Change Is So Hard?21:38 What Planners Should Do Differently?22:22 Outro: The Real Question Cities Must Answer------------------------About the Guest: Karel Martens is a leading scholar in transport planning and the author of Transport Justice: Designing Fair Transport Systems.He is a Professor of Transport Planning at Radboud University in the Netherlands and is known for challenging conventional transport thinking by bringing ethics and justice into the conversation.His work focuses on one fundamental question:Who is actually being served by our transport systems—and who is left out?Connect with him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karelmartens/Know more about his work: https://karelm.net.technion.ac.il/------------------------About the Host:The Human City Podcast is hosted by Ruchita Bansal, an accomplished urban planner and project management professional with 15+ years of experience. She has led multi-billion-dollar development projects and sustainable mobility programs across India, including her leadership role at the Ayodhya Development Authority.Ruchita is also the founder of SheCity India, a platform for gender-inclusive urban planning, storytelling, and data-driven advocacy.