03/10/2018
Ms Amritwar CEO MESN , suggestions which can be executed within a years time to improve mobility in Mumbai at round table organised by Times of India.
Projects that can be implemented in one year and which can have impact on the congestion and commuting in Mumbai
Projects to reduce congestion in Mumbai in one year!
What we need to Do to perceptibly improve on commuting woes & times .
We have heard during last several years that traffic congestion is going to ease – at least before 2019 – the election year. One thing we can admit that the CM vigorously pursued the gigantic metro project within a year of his taking office and we now see a lot of construction taking place at least for 3 metro lines. It is possible that these metros and Coastal Rd will be completed by 2022. By any past standards, this can be considered very good speed in project completion. Before going into the merits of a single minded focus on these two large mobility projects of which Coastal rd is not for public transport and there is very little attention to buses and governance and discipline improvement measures and footpaths. Let us identify what can be done by which more than a crore Mumbaikars will experience a material improvement in their commuting experience before the end of 2019.
It is clear that there is just no chance that any metro or coastal rd ( even a part) can be operational before 2021. So what can we do to assuage the feelings of Mumbaikars who feel “pie in the sky about such big projects”. Here is my list :
Parking , regulation and pricing
We need to improve parking and traffic discipline in a radical and substantial manner- certainly possible in 6 to 9 months.
There are more than 3 lakh vehicles parked on road and this number is growing by the day .
Can we bring one lakh under pay n park and reduce one lakh from parking on the road so that carriage -especially of buses- becomes smoother & faster.
Ensuring a reasonable fee/hr at Rs. 20 to Rs. 30 depending upon areas ( plus a surcharge of rs. 10 for cars of 4 mtrs or longer )
during day time and during night time bring as many small lanes under night residential scheme for Rs. 750 to Rs. 1500 /mth and , where possible, extend to 24 hrs right to park ( on one side – where possible for Rs. 3000 )
The value of parking space @ 25 sq m gross ranges btw Rs. 25 lakhs to Rs. 50 lakhs and this kind of fee is much cheaper in relation to real estate prices in cities like HK and NY which have similar characteristics like Mumbai .
It would require mapping, grading of roads by width, traffic volume and current parking reality . It will reduce the car ownership, make more space available for all moving vehicles – at least one extra lane ( in some cases two lanes ) cheapest way to widen road and reduce the no. of vehicles which need to use these roads ( providing more room and passengers for buses which will be faster and more frequent and predictable !) Thus it is a double benefit. This will redress the imbalance for non vehicle owners amd we need to make a beginning to teach the city to remain within its existing space.
This will facilitate buses, autos and taxies to carry more trips and people at a faster and easier way. Those who pay for parking will also get the value for their expenditure on parking as they “buy” the right to park. Fees can be discussed and need not be unaffordable. (once we enforce parking discipline in a serious manner, we can deal with problems of hawker and extensions to shop fronts more easily.
For every 25000 vehicles we put under Pay n Park, we should earn Rs. 500 cr/pa per a lakh of cars. It can generate merit employment of attendants and constables of 5000 per lakh of cars. Getting two lakh under pay n park regime is not easy but quite possible if there is basic willingness for discipline and concern for non car owning good citizen !
Restraints in vehicle additions /keeping them idle
This is something for which a beginning is a must . We should restrict the no. plates available for purchase of new vehicles in Mumbai metro area and reduce the permissible number for the calendar year 2019 to 1/3 of actual in 2018 . This quota should be announced in dec 2018 after doing the required home work . We should have sub quota for cars for various engine sizes, petrol, cng and diesel (?) . And there should be lottery for the auction of such no. plates for fuel/engine size category. ( this is done in Shanghai and other Chinese cities ( where the govt fetches $ 3000 for right to “a buy a vehicle no. plate” This policy should continue hereafter too. Similarly, we should have a stricter policy for scrapping the 20 year and older vehicles in every category. There must be proper disposal/recycling policy and lining up of vendors and space and method of surrender or confiscation of vehicles and a charge to be paid by the owner for abandoning ( fee+penalty) and properly offering for recycling( fee) This will be a major contributor to waste management policy too.
We should suggest a proper , justifiable even if a bit unpleasant to motorists, a proposal whereby MCGM should charge street tax to all vehicles plying and registered in the Mumbai metro area a tax equal to 1% of the purchase price of the vehicle pa. This should replace 15% street tax which we curren pay on property tax. This is one more way of application of the principle that a vehicle which uses road space should pay street tax ( for moving space) and parking fees fr parking spaces. This is revenue neutral. This will help us make a comprehensive dbase and fixing of RFIDs to all vehicles which can facilitate electronic toll paying as well as paying fines and other fees . These two space use fees will discourage multi vehicle ownership as well as continue to own scrappable vehicles. Such policies will reduce the burden of all unwanted and unused vehicles on the roads. A lot of people will get rid of the vehicles ( or at least stop adding them unless they are a must ) Thus street tax will be payable only by those who own a motorized vehicle and free all the good citizen who don’t burden the city with a private vehicle. This incentivizes good behavior and discourages (but permits with a reasonable fee ) ownership of private vehicles. Incidentally, estimated street tax thus calculated will not be about equal to current street tax of about Rs. 500 to 600 cr.
Management of parking and traffic discipline with a strong IT and CCTV backbone
Improvement in traffic and parking discipline (electronic compliance and fine collection ) Collection to go up from Rs. 1.5 cr/mth in 2016 to Rs. 15 cr/mth in 2019 ( level of fines to be increased only from Rs. 200 to Rs. 300 per violation through tightening IT system and making e tag virtually universal to ensure compliance , accuracy and transparency in collection of not only fines but also tolls . Ten times increase is valued more for its impact on violations rather than the collection of funds which can be used to improve efficiency of traffic police as well as finance high quality, signage, painting and junction redesign footpaths and bus stops on Mumbai roads which will compliment traffic calming and management of higher thruputs in a smoother and safer manner. Simple parking in no parking zone should attract a normal fine of Rs. 200 but those parking at corners, double parking without drivers inside and within bus stop jurisdiction as well as footpaths should attract a fine of Rs. 400 . ( look at it in a nuanced manner !) same thing for wrong . We estimate that a low priced regime of pay n park should yield Rs. 500 cr/pa to MCGM and fines on parking should net Rs. 150 cr/pa to traffic police. They should be treated as componants of city transport fund and should be ploughed back in management of road based mobility.
Redesign of junctions and footpaths, under flyover , pedestrian crossings, bicycle & bus lanes etc
If we improve the junction thru better signals. Painting of pedestrian crossing, lighting and cctv cameras and E challans for violations at all high volume high decibel junctions ( happily ignored so far ) In next one year , we can attempt 20 high volume junctions on Eastern, Western , SCLR , JVLR , Ambedkar Rd, Haji ali, Worli etc. , we can see much faster and calmer thruput – especially of buses. This should also cover short bus lanes at select junctions . The cost of this project would be approx Rs 2 cr/jn and can be completed in 6 to 9 months. ( there should be no turf wars btw MMRDA, MSRDC and MCGM and PWD about funding and responsibility – we suggest MCGM should do it for the entire city.
A Better use of idle and additional bus capacity
If a person chooses bus over other road options such as taxi, car, auto etc, he will consume a lot of additional road space. But instead using an empty space in a bus would prevent such misuse. Hence we should focus on fuller utilization of bus seats at all times. A ten per cent shift from buses to personal vehicles increases road congestion by 20% and this rate accelerates at higher levels of migration because each person uses 6 to 12 sqm in a private hospital instead of 1 sqm in a bus. Hence it is better to have crowded rather than empty buses. Same thing is true for sharing car or taxi seats – albeit at a much lower level. Let us think of low end first. reduce the prices of monthly and daily passes of BEST by at least by 20 to 40% (rail passes are about 60 to 70% cheaper than single tickets. ) And advertise the same loudly and nicely. It is possible that there will be not much revenue loss but will reduce the traffic jams by lesser usage of space inefficient private vehicles. This is also a welfare measure targeted at women and poor for whom it will be a very important benefit. We should be able to analyse traffic data and design passes also for non peak morning hrs when the capacity is mostly there.
Bus lane fully on WEH is a clear choice. It should be from Sea link to Borivali or even beyond with one branch joining from BKC ( from eastern exp way thru new flyover which will connect it with BKC bypassing Sion and Dharavi . It can be linked to Airport Road stn on metro with a combined ticket and even passes. Bus lane will reduce substantial time especially during evening ( and even morning ) peak hrs on WEH by at least 25 to 40% and will be a single most important measure to reduce the traffic tensions for the commuters who use WEH ( some migration from W Rly is also possible . This trunk line bus lane can have connections at junctions thru TV screens in the buses for going to east or west on SCLR and JVLR and this will it a very powerful solution to improve carrying capacity by 20%. We should have short bus lanes ( of about 200 to 400 m ) on several important jn on JVLR and SCLR . Thus overall travel time during rush hrs for longer distances across all directions in the suburbs will make a big difference to bus service and offer people a faster , quicker and cheaper option from a range of origins to destinations. It is possible that this bus operation thru extended links to main trunk bus lanes will reduce the operating loss bus system significantly .
We should provide a bus lane from CST to eastern free way in the south and from Deonar to Vashi on one hand and to Chembur on the other. We should introduce toll for private vehicles on easterm freeway which will increase the appeal and utility of bus commute thru eastern suburbs via freeway .
BEST is planning to introduce small and AC buses . There should be more such experiments and use of timely info on mobiles and at bus stops about the arrival of next bus for each route will go a long way to increase the bus usage dramatically forcing BEST to appoint more drivers and allow more route rationalization to use the fleet in a smarter and more productive manner.
20 % odd /even on key commuter arteries in rush hours
It means 20 % all private vehicles will be off road every working road on arteries such as WEH, SV Rd, SCLR, JVLR, Ambedkar Rd , Pedder Rd etc. two last digits from the number plate can decide which 20% vehicles will be off each of the 5 working days. This will enable buses and shared taxies to ferry more people than now in lesser time.
All these projects can be completed within the new sources of merit revenue such as parking fees, street tax and fines and will offer more share . They will improve the commuting time and ease in a dramatic way at no cost. We should open our mind to governance projects such as above rather than investment projects such as Coastal rd and multiple metros ( 2 or 3 are needed but not 6 or 7!)
Ashok Datar , Trupti Amritwar Vaitla and any one of u agree to this agenda
