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

Michael Replogle michael.replogle at itdp.org
Mon Dec 12 16:06:51 JST 2011


I just returned from Delhi. Effective implementation of a congestion charge as proposed in there will likely require augmenting the current motor vehicle registration system - in which a vehicle is registered once when new and then transferred between owners without routine updating or annual fees. Shifting towards an annual or biannual motor vehicle registration renewal tag system could greatly facilitate the administration of automated license tag recognition systems for cordon charge payments and enforcement of penalties. Without such a system, enforcement would need to be on an irregular spot basis, with related high costs and a propensity for payoffs to waive tickets. If motor vehicle owners were required to get their vehicle inspected for safety and emissions annually or biannually as a condition for re-registration, this would also help discourage high polluting unsafe vehicles from Delhi. This could be phased into a Vehicle Quota System that would garner much greater benefits of traffic management, with auctions to be held for the right to register a motor vehicle in the city.

Michael Replogle
Global Policy Director & Founder
Institute for Transportation & Development Policy
1210 18th Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036 USA

Tel: 202-552-3212 (Office)
        301-529-0351 (Mobile)
www.itdp.org | www.ourcitiesourselves.org

Promoting sustainable and equitable transportation worldwide





On Dec 11, 2011, at 10:48 PM, ashok datar wrote:

I did not attend Delhi conference and am very keen to see ur presentation.
I believe that congestion pricing is a must in Indian cities. we need to be
efficient , cost effective and ensure the funds collected are totally used
for developing better alternatives such as bike paths, BRTS, etc
I feel that  proper regulation and market driven prices for parking is the
best form of congestion charging
but am keen to use ur ideas for Mumbai
which has perhaps one of the lowest amt of road space for the no of cars on
road
ashok datar

On Fri, Dec 9, 2011 at 11:41 PM, Todd Alexander Litman <litman at vtpi.org>wrote:

> Yes, this is interesting. I gave a presentation, “Congestion Charging:
> Options and Impacts" at the Urban Mobility India Conference
> (http://iutindia.org/urban2011 ) in Delhi last week. Nobody mentioned this
> proposal.
> 
> 
> 
> Although I think that congestion pricing could be beneficial, in most cases
> it is costly and politically difficult to implement, and only affects a
> small portion of total travel. For example, London’s congestion pricing
> system has a 30-40% overhead cost (30-40% of revenues are spent on
> collecting the fee), it only affects about 5% of total regional travel,
> many
> types of vehicles are exempted or given large discounts for annual passes,
> and it does not discourage driving within the area (once a motorist pays
> the
> fee they may as well drive). As a result, although it reduces about 20% of
> affected travel, it reduces less than 1% of total regional travel. Other
> pricing reforms, such as increased parking prices and fuel taxes,
> distance-based insurance, and cheaper transit fares, are probably more
> economically efficient and beneficial overall, particularly for GHG
> emission
> reductions.
> 
> 
> 
> Here are the main conclusions from my presentation. Let me know if you
> would
> like me to email you the slide show.
> 
> 
> 
> ·         Without efficient pricing and improvements to alternative modes,
> urban traffic congestion is virtually unavoidable.
> 
> 
> 
> ·         Motorists either spend time or money. Spending money is more
> efficient overall because it allows higher value trips to “outbid”
> lower-value trips, and generates revenue.
> 
> 
> 
> ·         Urban traffic congestion is increasingly severe in developing
> countries.
> 
> 
> 
> ·         More efficient pricing can reduce congestion and help achieve
> other planning objectives. Although road tolls are most effective at
> reducing congestion, other pricing strategies (parking pricing, higher fuel
> taxes, and distance-based fees) may be easier to implement and provide
> greater total benefits.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Todd Litman
> 
> Victoria Transport Policy Institute (www.vtpi.org)
> 
> litman at vtpi.org
> 
> facebook.com/todd.litman
> 
> Phone & Fax 250-360-1560
> 
> 1250 Rudlin Street, Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, CANADA
> 
> “Efficiency - Equity - Clarity”
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sustran-discuss-bounces+litman=vtpi.org at list.jca.apc.org
> [mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+litman=vtpi.org at list.jca.apc.org] On
> Behalf
> Of Cornie Huizenga
> Sent: December-08-11 9:09 PM
> To: Sarath Guttikunda
> Cc: Clean Air Initiative -- Asia; Global 'South' Sustainable Transport
> Subject: [sustran] Re: Delhi plans congestion charge to ease gridlock | The
> Guardian
> 
> 
> 
> Dear All,
> 
> 
> 
> It is interesting to read this. I just am back from the annual UMI meeting
> 
> on urban transport in Delhi. As far as I know none of the keynote Indian
> 
> speeches and presentations made reference to this.
> 
> 
> 
> I think that the article is significant in the sense that it points at a
> 
> growing awareness in Asian cities that it will be hard, if not impossible,
> 
> to revert the current pattern of growing un-sustainability of transport
> 
> systems, associated with rapidly growing vehicle fleets merely by investing
> 
> in public transport and promoting NMT.
> 
> 
> 
> Increasingly, cities seem to be willing to put in place demand management
> 
> measures to restrain the growth in number of vehicles and their use.
> 
> Evidence of this is for example the decision of Beijng and other cities in
> 
> China to follow the example of Singapore and Shanghai who for more than 10
> 
> years have had a vehicle quota system.  The economic success of these two
> 
> cities clearly demonstrates that restraining the number of vehicles does
> 
> not undermine economic growth.
> 
> 
> 
> A quota system can be implemented more easily and it is cheaper to
> 
> administer. If it is operated on the basis of an auction system it can also
> 
> generate substantial funding which should be a major contribution towards
> 
> improving public transport and NMT, except in the case of metro's which are
> 
> more expensive. In Shanghai, about 100,000 car licenses are auctioned each
> 
> year resulting in about $ 600 million in income.
> 
> 
> 
> The basic underlying premise is of course that road space is not a free
> 
> commodity and that access to its use by cars can be regulated in the same
> 
> manner as other parts of the city such as land for construction where
> 
> public lands are sold/leased or taxed for private development and the
> 
> proceeds are used for developing schools, hospitals etc.
> 
> 
> 
> Cornie
> 
> 
> 
> On Fri, Dec 9, 2011 at 12:40 PM, Sarath Guttikunda
> <sguttikunda at gmail.com>wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>> 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-gri
> dlock?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*
> 
>> --------------------------------------------------------
> 
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> 
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> 
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> 
>> ================================================================
> 
>> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred,
> 
>> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries
> 
>> (the 'Global South').
> 
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --
> 
> Cornie Huizenga
> 
> Joint Convener
> 
> Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport
> 
> Mobile: +86 13901949332
> 
> cornie.huizenga at slocatpartnership.org
> 
> www.slocat.net
> 
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> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred,
> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries
> (the 'Global South').
> 
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> 
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> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred,
> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries
> (the 'Global South').
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-- 
Ashok R.Datar
Mumbai Environmental Social Network
20 Madhavi, Makarand Society, S.V.S.Marg, Mahim-400 016
98676 65107/0222 444 9212 see our website : www.mesn.org

* I hear, then I forget.  I see, then I remember. I do, then I understand.*
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