[sustran] Delhi plans congestion charge to ease gridlock | The Guardian

[Sarath Guttikunda]

Article quotes, "This will help reduce congestion … [and] encourage people
to use public transport".

How much of this is possible with the limited public transport in place?
Compare with the public transport system in Singapore and London, Delhi is
not close to the required capacity to warrant a shift from cars to bus or
metro, by introducing a congestion fees. Toll roads and fuel taxes aside,
congestion fees system requires an enormous scale-up in the current public
transport system to make it work and see some tangible results in reducing
congestion and related air pollution.

***********************************

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/08/delhi-congestion-charge-ease-gridlock?newsfeed=true

*Delhi Plans Congestion Charge to Ease Gridlock*

No one could fault the plan for lack of ambition: to tame the choked
streets of India <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/india>'s notoriously
chaotic capital by imposing a congestion charge modelled on that in London,
Singapore and a handful of other cities.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the authority charged with providing
civic services to the city, hopes to introduce a system to levy a 150-rupee
(£2) fee on cars, motorbikes and even rickshaws entering central areas
during the day.

"This will help reduce congestion … [and] encourage people to use public
transport," the head of the authority, KS Mehra, told local press. Lorries
will be made to pay a higher fee.

A congestion charge has existed in Singapore since the 1970s and various
systems have been successfully introduced in London, Rome, Milan and
several Scandinavian cities in recent years.

Authorities in Beijing recently said they were considering congestion
charging, and other Chinese cities such as Shanghai and Nangjing are
reported to be interested. But no city of the size and complexity of Delhi
has attempted to introduce such a scheme.

Few doubt the necessity of radical measures in India's capital.
Construction of a metro system and measures to boost the use of buses has
barely slowed the increase in traffic in recent years. A decade of rapid
economic growth and a broad distaste for public transport among the
expanding middle class means there are now 6.8m vehicles on Delhi's roads,
at least twice as many as five years ago.

Gridlock is common and, during winter, heavy smog leads to accidents,
respiratory diseases and mass flight cancellations.

Other Indian cities such as Mumbai, the country's commercial capital, are
considering similar measures. The Delhi scheme would first be implemented
in areas around the historical old centre.

But experts are sceptical. "If you look at what is already in place to
reduce congestion, such as toll gates around Delhi, they make the problem
worse, not better," said Rumi Aijaz, of the city's Centre for Policy
Research thinktank. "Even if the proposal is accepted politically, the
necessary infrastructure simply isn't there."

The tolls on key roads linking Delhi with satellite cities cause huge
traffic jams. Occasionally they are the focus of protests that can turn
violent. Aijaz said a broader strategy to tackle traffic in the city was
necessary. "There has to be a range of measures to manage the issue.
Nothing done in isolation will work," he said.

Experts point out that one serious problem is a lack of proper licensing or
law enforcement in Delhi. Driving permits can be bought illegally and laws
that should ensure safe driving and a smoother traffic flow are routinely
ignored.

Fines for traffic violations can usually be avoided by paying a small bribe
to police officers. There are few cameras, although a Facebook page asking
irate commuters to post their own photographs of offenders has met with a
massive response.

Senior police officers said charging would be a positive step – if
technology to avoid queuing was introduced. But even if the practical
obstacles can be overcome, the support of the infamously fractious
"delhiwalla" – inhabitants of the city – will be hard to win.

Some shopkeepers welcomed the move, but their customers were less
enthusiastic. "People are already reeling under taxes … we don't need any
more," Mamta Choudhary, a teacher who regularly shops in one of the areas
designated for the new scheme, told the Times of India newspaper.

Ram Thakur, a 45-year-old manager who spends up to two hours a day in
traffic driving from the satellite city of Faridabad to his office, said no
amount of charging would make him give up the small car that he bought a
year ago. "I started on a bicycle and I've taken buses for 20 years. Now I
am a car owner and life is very much nicer. I am not giving it up to go
back on buses or bikes," he told the Guardian.

Dr Robin Hickman, an expert in urban transport at London University, said
that implementing a congestion charge in Delhi would be "extremely
difficult. "It would probably be a better option to increase tax on fuel in
the city and invest the funds generated in public transport," Hickman, who
has worked in Delhi, said.

--
*Dr. Sarath Guttikunda*
Founder and Analyst, UrbanEmissions.Info (New Delhi, India)
Affiliate Associate Research Professor, Desert Research Institute (Reno,
USA)
*Tel +91-9891315946  |  http://www.urbanemissions.info*
*http://www.dri.edu/sarath-guttikunda*