Opinion: A good run for your money

On a long stretch of road I ventured out on a run. After all the entire stretch had a fairly wide foothpath on both sides for the convenience of pedestrians.

 

First, I realised that sneaker companies while devoting a lot of their energies on creating "better running experiences" and on "imparting athletic level performance to amateurs" are missing out on some real opportunities.

 

The most striking one is an excrement guard, especially if that can be extended across various species. You acutely feel the need as you splosh through the after-effects of a pet walker's laziness in not cleaning the poop left behind by their pets, right in the middle of the footpath. 

 

And while there have been shoes for trail running versus normal joggers why has no one created the ultimate sneaker for running on broken tiles and wide potholes? Maybe sneaker engineers can run through what looks like a small scratch on the tile and experience that searing pain which emanates as it turns out to be a fully cracked tile that plunges your speeding foot into a pot hole and takes you straight to the local sports physiotherapist.

 

You settle your stride and try to keep up the pace but the stink gets to you. Yes, athletic companies are providing gear that cools and gear that absorbs sweat. But that gear does not stand any chance against the stink that emanates from dumps of garbage strewn all over the footpath. Garbage stink proof athletic gear! Now that is something I will pay a premium for. 

 

With all of this, one does not welcome but actually dread the rain. After all, what will happen to this sequence of broken tiles, potholes, excrement and stinking garbage when it's all doused with powerful rain for a few hours. A word-defying nightmare.

 

If you can jog your way through all of this, there are still the hawkers and beggars who have made this footpath their office or abode and the cars which are parked on the footpath because they could not find parking place elsewhere. Not to mention two-wheelers who use the foothpath as a road to get through traffic jams endangering limbs and lives, largely not theirs, in the process. 

 

Clearly, the process of constructing and maintaining footpaths has reached a stage of utter breakdown. Which makes me think of a "by the people" --a simple and elegant solution, in this age of social media, for maintaining and improving footpaths.

 

Mentioning "by the people" leads me to that audience monitoring tool that many of us were used to during our early days as marketers. To gauge what audiences were actually viewing, there used to be these devices called "Peoplemeters". People themselves turned on their personal viewing buttons and the device recorded their viewing habits. This in turn went into the sizing of Rating Points for various shows which determined the rates that advertisers wished to pay, based on viewership.

 

Now turn the concept around into something again measured by the people for the construction and the maintenance of footpaths -- The Footpathometer. 

 

After all every footpath is constructed or maintained by some approved contractor. What if there was a simple Footpathometer at every end of the footpath and pedestrians could record their rating in terms of maintenance, cleanliness and other attributes. Think of the rating devices measuring satisfaction at the toilets in Changi Airport Singapore or at the immigration in Shanghai. And if the rating borders below unsatisfactory then the contractor can be replaced and also perhaps black listed. The contractor's name can also be listed on the Footpathometer to provide complete transparency.

 

It will also save complex empanelling and renewal processes for the civic administration as contractors will have to provide consistent service in terms of upkeep and cleanliness to continue their empanelled status.

 

Naturally, there is the big issue of vandalism in India.  Within days, such meters can be broken or stolen necessitating costs of keeping security guards to keep such meters working. Well, there is also a solution particularly in today's smart phone enabled world. Enable these meters through a downloadable app that allows people to vote and record. Ratings can be available for people to view online, real time and for the civic administration to act on.

 

It's time for "Peoplemeters" to evolve into enablers  of "Peoplepower" with adaptations like the Footpathometer. An enabler that may one day allow old people to use these footpaths for  their real purpose of walking through busy roads without the fear of tripping over, walking on garbage or being hit by a two wheeler whizzing through to avoid traffic.