Improving public transport is a more practical solution

To ease traffic woes in the city, the government has suggested some solutions to the Bombay High Court. The verdict is till pending but it has already raised many eyebrows. How practical are the suggestions? Speak Up asks experts and people...

The five suggestions made by  the Government of Maharashtra  to the High court
1. A law be introduced where a person cannot buy a car unless he/she has a parking space, but not on the street. This would control the increase in the number of vehicles.

2. If a person already owns a car and wants to buy a new one, he/she will have to de-register the old car before buying a new one. This would not add to the existing vehicular population.

3. Dedicated fast lanes for vehicles with greater occupancy. This means vehicles carrying more than three people will have a separate lane for them. This would encourage more people to use one vehicle.
4. BEST aims at putting at least 200 more air-conditioned buses on the roads by December 2009. And there will be dedicated lanes for these buses.

5. Some charges like congestion charge could be applied in
certain areas.

Expert speak
We need better public transport
I don't agree with the suggestion of dedicated lane for cars with high occupancy because it won't work the way government plans to. People usually travel by cars because they want their privacy and even if people carpool, it won't be able to reduce the congestion on roads as cars are mostly four-seater. Instead of this, there should be more dedicated lanes for BRTS and BEST buses. They have higher capacity than cars and will definitely decongest roads.

The government has to make sure that there is good and sufficient amount of public transport available in the city. We need dedicated lanes for buses so that traffic can move faster. The suggestions have to be implemented and enforced otherwise they will be superficial.

The restriction put on cars with certain numbers is not going to work because if one needs to travel to the city, they will do so by taking a taxi. So how is it going to decongest the roads? It will only reduce the traffic by 20% and will cause inconvenience to the people. But if we  have safer, quick and comfortable way of public
transportation then people won't mind using them rather than their cars.
—Sudhir Badami, Transport expert

People’s support can make it a success
I think the suggestions made by the government are good, especially keeping in mind the growing number of cars in the city. The government has to come up with some method to curb the congestion in Mumbai. They have to try a different modus operandi.

Any such measure will require public support for it  to succeed.
There are so many cars in Mumbai and the infrastructure available doesn't support it, at least for now. The land is very limited in Mumbai, and we can't keep building infrastructure, it needs to stop at some point. And once the people realise this they will probably be conscious of purchasing a vehicle.

I also think that the government should improve the public transport so that people don't find a need to buy a vehicle; like, in New York, people prefer taking the public transport then owing a car. We need to make the city less congested and for that the government needs public support.
—Dilip Boralkar, Former member-secretary, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board

Such proposals will ease traffic misery
The proposition made by the government to ease traffic woes in the city is commendable. If it's implemented then it would really make a difference to the traffic situation faced by the city. Driving in this city has become a nightmare, and parking too has become a major issue.

There are very few buildings that have adequate parking lots in their premises. So the residents are left with no option but to park their cars in the lanes outside. The decision that a person cannot buy a car unless he has a parking space, but not on the street, seems viable and might discourage people from having more than one car.

With the easy availability of car loans, purchasing a car has become trouble-free. There needs to be a check on that too. For instance, in Singapore, while buying a car one needs to have a certificate of entitlement which authorises them to buy a car. This certificate costs around eight to ten lakhs, which would sometimes be more than the cost of a car.  

The poor state of roads adds to the misery of the  motorists. There is no proper disciple followed by pedestrians as well. The whole of city faces bumper to bumper traffic.
—Kishore Jagtiani, Founder, Citizen Centre for Citizen Initiative

On record
“The suggestions given by the state government are a good move. People are not realising that owning more than one vehicle can create problems for the city. If government starts separate lane for carpool and makes BEST buses luxurious then the private mode of transport will decrease on the roads.”
—Paresh Panchmatiya 

“The government is unable to solve traffic congestion and parking problems and is now creating nightmares for citizens. Instead of putting the blame on people, why cannot the authorities try to improve the condition of the roads? Government can also make multi-storey parking lots.”
—Pretty Mirchandani

“The steps taken by the government are good but there are various loopholes. Firstly, there are ways people can manipulate the registration of the new car while keeping the old one. Secondly, the narrow roads of Mumbai won't allow separate dedicated lanes for high capacity cars.”
—Ambreen Akhoon