The Hindu : `Impose fee on private vehicles to ease congestion'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 11, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

`Impose fee on private vehicles to ease congestion'

By R. Sujatha

CHENNAI JULY 10. When it comes to enforcing rules to ensure safe roads, the transport department and the traffic police blame each other. The traffic police wants to know what role the 50 Motor Vehicles inspectors play while the transport department officials demand to know why a constable or a head constable should inspect vehicle records when the MV Act empowers a sub inspector or inspector to do the same.

The city's traffic scenario draws sharply divergent views from the official agencies, while the number of vehicles being registered each year is on the rise.

Police figures show that two-wheeler and pillion riders are the commonest victims in road accidents, followed by pedestrians and cyclists. In the past six months, 89 two-wheeler and pillion riders, 87 pedestrians and 38 cyclists have died in road accidents.

Meanwhile, the traffic police say that more than 30 per cent of the vehicles stopped for violation are not registered in the user's names. Sophisticated technology like the CCTV or synchronised signal systems are difficult to implement because there are at least 16 different kinds of vehicles on the road.

Efforts to reduce congestion within the city have not take off and comprehensive transport policies have time and again been shelved, because successive governments have lacked the political will, say urban development researchers.

At the policy level, the Government is committed to promoting public transport, they say.

But, the Government and the industry have been pulling in opposite directions.

In the past 15 years, the city has seen a rise in two-wheeler segment. Since the 1980s, when it was 1.25 lakhs it has risen to 12 lakhs, according to the transport department.

Incentives like finances and soft loans and reduced bank interest rates have promoted two-wheeler sale, and in the past three years the trend has been extended to cars.

One way to ease congestion within the city would be to impose a fee on private vehicles for using city roads, encourage use of public transport from the suburbs to the city and upgrade the existing parking lots near the railway stations to multi-tiered structures, say the researchers and transport department officials.

Researchers say, road pricing could be monitored by imposing a toll on the use of the arterial roads in the city.

Use of technology like CCTV and other available resources besides strict enforcement and fines would curtail non-payers.

Public transport like the Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses, autorickshaws and taxis besides bicycles, could be exempted.

Other disincentives include issuing tickets to the passenger's final destination from his residence, for travel within the city and the state.

A person leaving for work from Tambaram could board a bus at the MTC terminus and change to a train using the same ticket, to reach his workplace.

This service could include people travelling to other cities, as all that is required would be good networking between the MTC and the Railways.

The MTC could operate feeder services to areas inaccessible by train.

The researchers say the MTC's profit orientation has prevented the Corporation from catering effectively for the public.

With the result, the MTC has in the past several years taken off the road or reduced some of the more popular services, much to the distress of the commuters.

The researchers observe that in the past few years, in Chennai the growth through migration has been greater.

Both the transport department and the police note that a floating population of at least two lakh vehicles use the city roads, which already carry about 18 lakh vehicles every day.

The roads were not built for such massive movements they say. Mixed land use development where people need not commute more than three or four km for their daily needs, to work or school, would also reduce congestion.

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