The ever-growing vehicular population, coupled with the poorly promoted public transport system, has caused traffic congestion to become a part of commuters’ daily routine in Hyderabad.
Although the State government is throwing its weight behind the Strategic Road Development Programme (SRDP), which includes the construction of multi-level flyovers and junctions as traffic-easing and time-saving measures, the policy measures taken to promote the public transport system in the metro appear scarce.
U-turns, a mistake
For Vinod Kanumula of the Indian Road Federation, removing junctions and setting up U-turns was a mistake and was only leading to more congestion and accidents.
“Blocking U-turns at important and busy stretches is forcing motorists to drive at least a kilometre extra than the usual route. This is also making two-wheelers and autorickshaws take the wrong routes. With no parking facility outside commercial establishments, the motorist is also left with no choice but to park on the carriageway and ultimately pay a challan,” he said.
A private employee from ECIL, Jubal George, says his motorcycle was towed away for illegal parking when parked outside a hotel next to the Karkhana police station.
“How is it the customer’s fault that hotel management can’t accommodate enough vehicles? How are they sanctioned permits to operate?” he asks.
Meanwhile, traffic enforcers, who are the immediate respondents, continue to roll out plans to ease traffic movement. Data from Hyderabad Traffic Police’s (HTP) seven-month-old Operation ROPE (Removal of Obstructive Parking and Encroachments) shows that a whopping 3.53 lakh cases were booked for various traffic violations, and 349 FIRs booked against encroachments in 2023 alone. But easing traffic congestion remains a work in progress.
1,200 new vehicles a day
According to officials in the HTP and the Transport Department, more people have been buying vehicles for commutation, particularly over the past three years, for health and hygiene concerns post-COVID-19. Other officers also felt that purchasing their vehicles “denotes the buying capacity of people has increased because of migration, better employment and business opportunities, and the infrastructure in Hyderabad is pushing this economic growth.”
According to the Transport Authority, the total number of registered vehicles in Hyderabad city limits till April 2023 was about 80 lakh, of which nearly 20% was added in the last two years. As per an official estimate, about 1, 200 new vehicles continue to get registered across RTAs in the limits on a daily basis.
In addition to the 80 lakh vehicle population, HTP approximation indicates that about four lakh vehicles from outside the city and the State hit Hyderabad city roads daily for various business, trade and travel needs.
The public transportation system, majorly the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation’s buses in Greater Hyderabad Zone, which are about 3,000, in contrast to the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation’s fleet strength of 6, 500 for the corresponding population of about one crore, is much lower than the Service Level Benchmark in urban transport by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
Low patronage to metro Rail
Similarly, “low ridership” on the Hyderabad Metro Rail, as per the report ‘Implementation of Metro Rail Projects - An Appraisal’, 2022, by the Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs, “Hyderabad Metro in 2020-21 had an actual ridership of 0.65 lakh against average daily ridership required for breakeven of 19 lakh.” With employees returning to offices now, post-pandemic, the latest ridership hovers around 4.40 lakh and 4.70 lakh passengers a day.
“Public transportation system hit a new low in Hyderabad after 2014. The government appears to be encouraging private transport through SRDP and not spending on buses, shelters, improved services and routes, pedestrian crossings, and traffic education. ” C. RamachandraiahRetired Centre for Economic and Social Studies professor
C. Ramachandraiah, retired Centre for Economic and Social Studies professor says, “Public transportation system hit a new low in Hyderabad after 2014. The government appears to be encouraging private transport through SRDP and not spending on buses, shelters, improved services and routes, pedestrian crossings, and traffic education. The Hyderabad Metro Rail also falls far behind in ridership number against its actual estimation.”
Low parking space
Rachakonda Police Commissionerate, comprising a jurisdictional area of about 5,859 km, catering to both rural and urban populations, shares that they find the lack of parking spaces for commuters and the footpath encroachments by the vendors during the morning hours to be major concerns leading to congestion.
LB Nagar ACP (Traffic) Hari Krishna says that in the LB Nagar and Vanasthalipuram stretch, petty vendors have been setting up shops in the morning hours. Even imposing fines under section 39 of the MV Act has not stopped them from setting up make-shift shops.
“Several malls and commercial establishments coming up in the Rachakonda limits lack coordination with municipal bodies about parking areas. Even the cellars are being used for commercial purposes. But the public face the brunt of it as they are being booked for illegal parking”Hari KrishnaLB Nagar ACP (Traffic)
“Several malls and commercial establishments coming up in the Rachakonda limits lack coordination with municipal bodies about parking areas. Even the cellars are being used for commercial purposes. But the public face the brunt of it as they are being booked for illegal parking. Traffic officials should have a role in issuing NOC to such places,” the official says, adding that wrong-side driving has increased due to the extended U-turns.
Encroachments menace
For Malkajgiri ACP (Traffic) S. Srinivas Rao, traffic issues are more on the ECIL-Rampally stretch due to the petty vendors and shops encroaching the roads.
“We have started the enforcement drive along with the GHMC. The nearby villagers set up shops to sell fruits and vegetables, leaving congested roads for commuters. Another issue is vehicles without number plates and those with fancy number plates. So far this year, we have booked 30,102 cases for irregular number plates in Malkajgiri and Bhongir zones alone. The Nacharam and ORR stretches have seen more fatal accidents than the city roads. We have also been taking steps to tackle that,” he said.
TTF patrols to tackle ground-level issues
Cyberabad Police Commissionerate is the only one equipped with a specialised Traffic Task Force (TTF) to tackle issues like road rage and vehicle breakdowns and to maintain a regular flow of cars. The traffic officials are usually only seen in junctions and main pockets, but TTF patrols to tackle ground-level issues and regulate traffic flow.
Kukatpally ACP (Traffic) Hanumanth Rao says that among the three police commissionerates, Cyberabad deals with more drunk driving cases and has a high dispersal rate. He says more focus was also on whether the rider and the pillion wore helmets.
Mr. Rao said the JNTU-Hitec City stretch and the Shaikpet-Gachibowli stretch remained busy the whole day, and alternate routes were identified to divert and ensure free flow.
“The flyovers and underpass help decongest the traffic. A new kind of violation is by motorcyclists using face masks to cover the number plate to avoid challans. Such acts lead to the seizing of the vehicles. There are clear instructions to toughen up on such violators,” added the official.
