Focus more on moving people, not vehicles

Focus more on moving people, not vehicles
Anjali Mahendra


Mobility is a right that all people are entitled to in the manner they choose. However, it is when the mobility of a few begins to create costs for the majority that policy action becomes necessary. Vehicle ownership in Bangalore has been rising at the high rate of about 9% per year. No surprise, given the rising levels of income in the city. Vehicle ownership is directly correlated with increasing income and there is a threshold of income beyond which cities see a steep rise in vehicle ownership.
Several of our cities, including Bangalore, are only at the start of that steep growth curve and are already facing severe congestion and pollution problems. Besides income growth, another factor that contributes to congestion and the rising use of private vehicles is the increase in distances travelled as more development and jobs move to suburban areas. Over half the people answering TOI’s survey (March 19, 2008) mentioned that bad roads and lack of proper infrastructure such as flyovers are the main causes of congestion. This is only a superficial explanation and it has been proven that building more roads and flyovers absorbs huge investments for only a short-term solution. More important causes of congestion include current land development patterns, lack of efficient public transport, and rising incomes.
Policy changes related to land use and transportation often produce results at slow rates, making it urgent to set them in motion before urban congestion grows to further stifle economic productivity, increase air pollution, and hamper mobility. The National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) proposed by the ministry of urban development is an important step in this direction, as is the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. The NUTP may seem like too little too late to researchers who predicted these problems for years, but it includes some important ideas that lay the framework for reforming transportation at the city level. The policy recommends the adoption of measures that restrain the use of private vehicles in order to reduce congestion, to decrease the total number of vehicle-kilometres travelled, and to reduce the level of pollution per vehiclekilometre. Strategies that can be implemented to manage congestion include more rational parking charges based on supply and demand, the use of congestion pricing, and a strong focus on improving public transport.
Parking charges must reflect land prices and the increased demand for private vehicle travel at certain locations. Several employers offer free parking to employees and must be made responsible for the cost of providing this advantage. Road infrastructure, similar to other classes of infrastructure such as power and telecommunication, suffers from peak hour over-consumption. If we pay user charges for these other forms of public infrastructure, then why should the same rationale not be applied to use of roads? Congestion pricing refers to a user fee for roads that is applicable at certain congested locations and times of day. It is a strategy that has been used in several cities worldwide to reduce congestion by ensuring that people make only the most valuable trips by private vehicles and pay a charge that reflects the true costs of using their vehicles. The charge could vary by location, time of day, and type of vehicle. Buses, vans, and other high-occupancy vehicles may be exempted. Timings for goods distribution can be regulated to fall outside of peak hours. The revenues generated from such a scheme can in turn be used viably by the city to maintain roads, improve connectivity where there are gaps in the road network, and to improve the city’s public transport system to become a self-financing and high quality one.
This policy is mistakenly construed by people as a tax because they only consider their personal costs of vehicle use and not the costs to society. Researchers from Secon Pvt. Ltd. estimated that the costs of congestion in Bangalore are about Rs 208 million per day in terms of lost time. This figure is evidence of the negative effects of congestion on productivity of residents and businesses. The reduced accessibility of key areas in the city, health impacts of air pollution, and deteriorating urban quality are other less quantifiable negative effects of rising congestion levels.
To manage congestion, a package of measures should be implemented that includes higher parking charges, congestion pricing, and the provision of alternatives by strengthening public transport. The city could begin a pilot programme to allow citizens to assess the reduction in congestion that is possible from such a package of measures. It is imperative that such a start be made. Finally, these measures can only be supported by a shift in citizen mentality — from merely considering a vehicle as a symbol of status to recognizing the higher social and environmental costs of vehicle ownership currently unaccounted for.
(The writer, a consultant at ICF International, is completing her doctorate in urban planning at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Boston)