More buses, Carpools, Behaved Autos and strict enforcement will reduce traffic problems

Blame it on my laziness or the amount of workload I was dealing with. But yes, the promised post on the measures to reduce the load on roads is delayed. Anyways here it goes. To decrease the traffic on the Delhi roads, apart from raising the traffic penalties and the parking charges, I will suggest following measures also.

1. Increase the DTC bus fleet on the Delhi roads: For adventure's sake try to commute by DTC bus service just for one day. I am sure that you will have to wait at least 20-30 minutes before your bus arrives and then you will find it too crowded to make you put your idea to take bus aside. The current fleet of roughly 6400 buses (3600 New Low floor buses and 2800 old busses) is not sufficient for Delhi roads. The government will have to at least triple the busses to provide a service every 5-10 minutes. Also the buses should allow only a fixed number of passengers. A commuter is more likely to ditch his car/bike for the bus service if it does not keep him waiting and provides sufficient comfort.

2. Improve the other means of public transport: Nobody likes to be heckled by the Auto / Taxi drivers. The government will have to ensure that Auto drivers have enough discipline to a) Not to refuse the passenger without any reason b) Always go by the meter. I am sure people will stop taking there beloved cars out of their garage. Read more about the "Psyche Of A Delhi Auto Driver" in this blog by Maryann Taylor

3 Encourage Car pooling: This is one point that I guess has already been acted upon. Some days back I used to hear this radio advertisement which appeals you to car pool forgetting any differences if you might have with copassengers.

4. Ensure stricter implementations of law: There is an urgent need to see that whatever fines or penalties are decided (the current or the proposed hikes) are implemented strictly. There should not be a case where people know hey can get away by bribing a constable.

After writing all this I still believe that there is a scope to add few more suggestions here. I will be more than happy to see suggestion coming from you about the post.

Read more!

Chalans and penalties not only solution for traffic voilations

A lot of readers of my blog have suggested me not to restrict the blog only about the parking but write about the traffic and traffic safety. This also sounds like a logical extension of the topic. Today after reading the news about the new bill for higher fines for traffic violations, I found it right topic to start the traffic related posts.

The Motor Vehicles Act 1988 is being amended to raise the penalties for the vehicles violating traffic safety regulations. Plans to hike the parking fees enough to force people to be more careful on the roads are also there. But will it really do the job? The data collected during the period, when the similar penalty hike was done in March 2007 provides the answer to the question.

Delhi government submitted a status report in Delhi High Court. It mentioned that, from fines and penalties till October 15, 2007, the Delhi traffic police earned Rs. 82,66,73,650 as revenue. This is over Rs. 33 crore more than the total fine (Rs. 49,24,11,750) collected in 2006. However, another report submitted by Delhi police to the Bench led by Justice Mukul Mudgal, had said 622 commercial vehicles were involved in fatal accidents in the Capital as of September 30, 2007 — merely 50 vehicles less than that in 2006...
Now, I am not discussing about the idea of increasing the traffic safety violation penalties. But interesting point is that, similar numbers of fatal accidents (infact more since the 2007 figures were till September only) took place despite the penalties being revised upwards. Does this suggest that some critical traffic safety measures are missing?

Okay for a moment let's talk about a different issue that most of us faced last year. The inflation was high and prices of the essential commodities were soaring high. But did someone start eating less? I did not. Now you would be wondering why all of a sudden my blog talks about inflation and the household budget. This is simple; the same situation can be related here also. When the traffic violation penalties are increased the people will not stop driving on the roads, neither will the traffic situation improve. There will be still as much traffic and as much delay in reaching your office. The people will still keep driving zigzag or jumping the red lights. After all who wants delays because of heavy traffic, become the reason to get fired?

So what is missing in the complete plan? It is the road space. The Government will have to either increase the road space (can we demolish some of the buildings to create more road space! Not really). The other solution could be, decrease the number of vehicles on the roads. Though high traffic penalties and parking charges will be deterrent for commuters love affair with their cars, but then they will have to think ways to reach their destinations. It is really hard to find an auto or taxi that is willing to charge as per the card rate. If you dare the DTC buses they are too less in number. Moreover these not only result in a very suffocating experience but add a long delays also. Moreover I still doubt that there is at least one DTC bus plying on every possible rout in Delhi. I have a few points in my mind to decrease the traffic on the Delhi roads, which I will share in my next post. Your suggestions
are welcome and I would include those i my next post. Meanwhile I'll direct you to another blog which talk about the same issue. Please read Siddharth Bhasker's post here. Read more!