A city-based public policy think tank has proposed a three-point alternative - High Occupancy Vehicle lanes, dynamic car pools and more pay-and-park lots.
With 50,000 new cars added to the city annually, is the Maharashtra government policy of spending crores on sea links and flyovers ill-fated?
Now, a city-based public policy think tank has proposed a three-point alternative to the officials, which calls for experimenting with more sophisticated transport planning measures by discarding traditional car-centric solutions in Mumbai.
One of the key strategies the think tank has initiated is to demarcate one or more lanes as High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane.
“The average occupancy of a private car in Mumbai is 1.75 persons, instead of 4 persons. This means the road space is under- utilised to serve its primary function of moving people,” says Ashok Datar, chairman, Mumbai Environmental Social Network (MESN). Without additional costs, HOV lane permits high speed, reduces cost of travel per person and reduces parking space and charges.
“We have restricted road space and it needs to be priced accordingly. HOV lanes can be first tried on arterial roads,” adds Datar.
Taking the concept further, the think tank has supported an experiment of facilitating a dynamic car pooling concept by using SMS technology with real-time updates. Titled ‘koolpool’, the system works with an interested rider sending an SMS to the main server, which processes the query and sends results to users.
“The membership is verified by a bank and the employer after which each person is given a photo ID card for a pre-paid account. Each ride for any distance is a flat charge of Rs25, which essentially covers the fuel price of the driver,” explains Joshua D’Souza, CEO, koolpool.
At present, the idea is mired in red tape at the traffic commissionerate, which has pointed out how private cars cannot be used for commercial purpose under Section 66 of the Motor Vehicles Act. “HOV along with car pool will hike the car occupancy ratio from 1.75 to 2.25, thus reducing congestion by 30 per cent and save over Rs500 crore fuel annually. It just needs bureaucratic will to do so,” adds D’Souza.
Incidentally, a recent MESN survey found that 40 per cent of the total cars in the city are chauffer-driven thanks to narrow roads and no car parking facility. “We found only 125 pay-and-park lots in the city, which collect an annual revenue of Rs5 crore and Rs15 crore in fines.
However, there are 50,000 possible spaces for pay and park across the city. If these are developed along with revised charges from Rs5 to Rs20, we can earn a revenue of Rs 100crore,” says transport expert Bina Balakrishnan. The revenue, she says, should be put into developing a good bus network across the city.
Many ideas, many solutions but the question is — are the political leaders even listening? “Roads are designed for movement of people and not cars. If you accept this, you will be able to change the mindsets,” says Balakrishnan.
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