We have all at some point or the other cursed our luck during one of those endless traffic jams, the honking, the stop-go aches, the nauseating drone of FM radio, and the irony of actually being part of the problem. When you ask Mumbai-based lyricist Prasoon Joshi about traffic, he first gives a practical answer. In Mumbai, road jams are built into daily schedules as people finish phone calls and important chores. “I write lyrics on the road from the car on my phone. The jams are when I do all my advertising-related conference calls.”

Of course, then he gets typically philosophical. “The world is frustrated because they spend all this time in traffic. If people in Mumbai spent less time on the road, they would have a better chance of spending that time with their families. Jams affect productivity, happiness, everything.” They can also be life-threatening. Recently, an elderly man died en route to a hospital in Delhi. His ambulance was stuck in traffic. Similarly, last week, another elderly man crossing the road at Puzhakkal on the busy Thrissur-Kunnamkulam road in central Kerala was hit by a vehicle. Because of the heavy traffic flow, the ones that followed didn’t stop and continued to run over him. Human beings are now like scared rabbits, trying to somehow cross the road without being run over.



Bangalore Traffic piles up at Chalukya Circle. (Photograph by Jagadeesh N.V.)

“Space is finite. We are fearfully close to the tipping point where we cannot build our way out of congestion.”

Abhijit Sarkar, Chief of road transport, DIMTS “Space is finite. We are fearfully close to the tipping point where we cannot build our way out of congestion.”

Which is ironical, really, considering the low traffic speeds in our choked cities (see graphic; Bangalore and Hyderabad share the slowest slot at 14 km/hr). Wherever you go across the country, in large and small cities, traffic jams, congestion and road rage have become part of everyday life as people spend inordinate amounts of time in their cars or bikes, killing time and waiting for jams to clear. Even smaller cities have started becoming victims of this nightmare. With India’s vehicle population growing at 10-15 per cent every year, it’s a ticking time bomb. “We are fearfully close to the tipping point where we cannot build our way out of congestion. Because in India, intervention is only through reallocating space and space is finite,” warns Abhijit Sarkar, chief of road transport at Delhi Integrated Multi-modal Transit System Limited (DIMTS).

The surprising thing is that respective governments in the states and the Centre have been largely apathetic towards the issue with the only response being building flyovers here and there (which often makes things worse). At a time when PM Narendra Modi is planning 100 smart cities with modern roads and infrastructure, the stillness of Indian traffic stands out as an unpleasant contrast. What is particularly worrying is the absence of cutting-edge solutions. Citing Delhi as an example of flyovers being a feelgood factor, a senior RSS pracharak attributed Sheila Dikshit’s successive runs at CMship as a direct result of the flyovers she built. “We agree with the BJP that flyovers and smart cities are two significant creations that will make people believe that their life is changing,” he says.



Calcutta At one of the Chipur Road sideshows. (Photograph by Sandipan Chatterjee)

Unfortunately, in many large cities, the reaction to traffic iss­ues has also been shocking. In a latest gaffe, local authorities in Delhi resorted to changing the colours of pavement markers from the internationally recognised black and yellow to ‘saffron and green’. Even forgetting the fact that it’s worsened visibility for motorists, it’s also gone down in the exchequer books as a traffic project and an expense. In a similar vein, in Calcutta, the system of converting many roads to one-way traffic and blocking entry in others during peak hours has had little success as it often leads to jams in peripheral and alternate routes.

“We are still following 60-year-old standards for our road designs. It’s a complete engineering failure.”

Dinesh Mohan, TRIPP, IIT Delhi “We are still following 60-year-old standards for our road designs. It’s a complete engineering failure.”

To be fair, the RSS’s top man in Delhi, Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari, is planning a major overhaul in the way the country commutes. Sources confirm that the minister has been closely studying transport systems across the world to spruce up our own in India. Top on Gadkari’s list is the United Kingdom transport plan where transport offices are not required to issue driving licences to people. Among the things he is working on is providing driving licences online to curtail time and corruption in these offices, and amending the Motor Vehicles Act.

But that’s in the future. In most cases, traffic congestion is not just because of unruly drivers but the inability of the civic inf­r­a­structure to handle the load of cars and two-wheelers plying on them. It’s not surprising considering that while a large city like Delhi has 21 per cent of its area dedicated to roads, it’s just a bit over nine per cent in Hyderabad, 10 per cent in Mumbai and 12 per cent in Calcutta. And this has not increased noticeably over the last several years despite the population of vehicles exploding. “We are still following 60-year-old standards as our road designs are made for congestion. It is a complete engineering failure. The roads should have uniform width throughout,” says Prof Dinesh Mohan, of the Transportation Research & Inj­ury Prevention Programme (TRIPP) at IIT Delhi.



Ranchi The Albert Ekka Chowk. Try getting out of this one!. (Photograph by Rajesh Kumar)

The frightening thing is that in many cities it may not be possible to widen roads anymore. Especially in cities which are linear in design, like Mumbai or Bangalore. Bangalore, for instance, has five million vehicles on its roads for a city of 9.5 million people and, according to some estimates, 3,500 vehicles get added to the roads every day. Says Bangalore-based urban planning evangelist V. Ravichandar, “There would be a gridlock on the roads if nothing is done but it is impossible to widen roads any longer here. It is a non-sustaining proposition.” In smaller cities, this problem is even more acute.

“The road to salvation lies in going back to the hierarchy of road users...cyclists and pedestrians must get space.”

V. Ravichandar, Urban planner “The road to salvation lies in going back to the hierarchy of road users...cyclists and pedestrians must get space.”

A primary reason for the traffic mess India is in today is also the absence of a properly planned public transport system. While some larger cities and metros like Delhi and Mumbai have public transport, it is far from properly catering to the city’s needs. In most cases, the quality of public transport is so bad that few want to use it. One bright spot is the coming of Mass Rapid Transport or Metro Rail to many cities. But in Delhi, for instance, even that has not helped primarily because of gaps in last-mile linkages. According to market research, despite a 50 per cent increase in Delhi Metro’s kilometre coverage bet­ween 2008-12, average traffic speeds in Delhi actually declined by about 10 per cent due to traffic congestion and jams.

One of the knee-jerk reactions of local administrations has been to build flyovers to ease traffic problems. Unfortunately, in most cases, these flyovers, which are sanctioned for political favours and constructed to show development, actually lead to more congestion and traffic bottlenecks. Says DIMTS’s Sarkar, “No modern city is building flyovers to ease traffic downtown but we are doing it.” In Europe, flyovers are in the periphery of the cities and not within them. In fact, in Boston a flyover was demolished recently to ease traffic and create public space, the same happened in Korea where an elevated road was demolished. In recent years, Bangkok has created a second layer of elevated roads but that has not helped its acute traffic congestion problems. Yet, India is still embarking on these methods. Delhi’s experiment with Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) has also been a non-starter because of bad planning and implementation and now regularly creates traffic snarls.



Lucknow Waitlisted on MG Road near the Vidhan Sabha. (Photograph by Nirala Tripathi)

Another big problem stemming from the increased car pop­u­lation is parking. Barring some modern group housing col­onies, absolutely no thinking has gone into providing proper parking facilities. As a result, in most cities, cars are parked on roads, outside houses, in markets and footpaths and just about every public place. In many larger cities like Delhi, there is no private parking space in even high-income group colonies which normally have more than one luxury car per household. This has often led to flared tempers and increasingly even mur­ders (see box). The problem gets aggravated with shopping complexes and malls coming up close to housing colonies.

“The answer lies in reducing roads and parking space drastically to discourage cars. It’s being done in other countries.”

K.T. Ravindran, Architect and urban planner “The answer lies in reducing roads and parking space drastically to discourage cars. It’s being done in other countries.”

Experts say that at the heart of today’s congestion problems is faulty town and infrastructure planning, lopsided as it is in favour of motorists. Says Ravichandar, “The road to salvation lies in giving proper representation to the hierarchy of road users. Roads have to be planned taking along ped­estrians and cyclists, they have to be brought back to the roads.”

So what would be the solution? Urban planning experts do not subscribe to the idea of increasing road space. Says architect and urban planner K.T. Ravindran, “The more roads and parking you provide, the more cars will come in and there will be more congestion. The answer lies in reducing the roads and parking space drastically to discourage use of cars. This is being done in many countries.” In Budapest’s city centre, only two lanes have been provided for cars while the remaining area has been reserved for pedestrians and cyclists. In Copenhagen, the amount of parking space is being reduced for car owners.

Some Indian cities are also working on similar lines. Bangalore, for one, is now constructing 10 new roads where two metres have been shaved off motor lanes while new lanes for cyclists and pedestrians are being created. Ahmedabad has become the first city in India to have Int­elligent Transportation System (ITS) where traffic will be monitored and controlled over a 10-kilometre stretch through cameras and message boards to gather, infer and disseminate information to com­muters using that stretch. Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta have also started using CCTV for traffic monitoring but at this point of time they have not started showing any noticeable results.

“The problem is too few roads. We need decent public transport so that people use it on weekdays, cars on weekends.”

Hormazd Sorabjee, Editor, Autocar India “The problem is too few roads. We need decent public transport so that people use it on weekdays, cars on weekends.”

One way to tackle the increasing congestion problem is the imposition of a congestion tax in busy areas and making acquisition difficult. But many experts differ and say that it cannot be imposed on cities that do not have alternate routes. But other countries have successfully used this to decongest. Recently Bangkok’s Metropolitan Police anno­unced a proposal to levy higher annual registration fees for cars older than 10 years. Singapore has a similar system of high taxes for both owning cars and running them. London has a system of congestion tax in perennially busy sections. Says UK-based automobile expert Dan Strong, “Restriction on car use (like the scheme in Italy which saw even-numbered plates allowed one day, odd-numbered ones the next) is out, at least for the time being. No politician dares restrict the movement of people. However, they will restrict the places we are allowed to stop. Parking spots are fewer in number than they were years ago, and there are now stiff penalties administered in many cases by private firms if you don’t obey the rules.” Carbon dioxide-based tax schemes and incentives for the use of smaller cars are one of the final elements in the arsenal on the war on congestion in London.

The Modi government, though, has been dangling its smart city carrot in front of the people with the lure of bullet trains and a web of flyovers and underpasses. Many people are not optimistic about these promises. With our city roads choking, the transport ministry now wants to make it difficult for people to own vehicles itself. So the new and improved Motor Vehicle Act will suggest enforcing extremely strict safety norms for cars which will push vehicle makers to raise prices. Some would argue that is practically trampling on people’s aspirations. But given the way Indian roads are getting choked, this may be India’s best bet.

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Clogged

India’s major urban centres are drowning in a sea of cars

Avg speed (kmph) Total no. of cars (in million) Delhi 18 8.39 Bangalore 14 5 Mumbai 18 2.33 Chennai 20 4 Hyderabad 14 3.5 Calcutta 19 1.1 Ahmedabad NA 3.2 Pune 18 2.2 Patna 18 0.8

Source: Industry and market estimates

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How The World Handles Its Traffic Woes

Every big city in the world has its own unique set of traffic woes. A rundown of how they cope with it. Data compiled by Arushi Bedi.

Singapore

Average Speed (kmph) 28.5 km/hr



Total No. of Cars (in millions) 0.9 mn

The city-state follows a “vehicle quota system”. A person buying a new car has to pay taxes to the extent of 140% of the market value. Also has levied congestion charges for certain roads. But it’s Singapore, you know.

Paris

Average Speed (kmph) 31 km/hr

Total No. of Cars (in millions) NA

In 2002, Paris launched Quartiers Verts—higher parking rates, lower on-street parking, and the elimination of free parking altogether. The city tied these reforms to the introduction of residential parking permits, available for a nominal yearly fee.

Moscow

Average Speed (kmph) 15.61 km/hr

Total No. of Cars (in millions) 5.5 mn

Traffic in the Russian capital makes an average journey 66 per cent longer during peak hours. Despite increasing the number of parking lots, developing public transport and road construction, Moscow has the worst traffic jams in the world.

Beijing

Average Speed (kmph) 24.2 km/hr

Total No. of Cars (in millions) 5.3 mn

Legendary traffic jams have reduced by two hours per day post-2011, when the choked city restricted the number of annual car registrations, introduced congestion tax, and odd-even licence plate number system for some areas. Pollution has reduced.

Mexico City

Average Speed (kmph) 20 km/hr

Total No. of Cars (in millions) 3.5 mn

The BRT system in Mexico has helped reduce traffic blocks considerably—as has paid, metered parking and targeted street closures. Bike lanes have been added to normal roads.

Bangkok

Average Speed (kmph) 15.7 km/hr

Total No. of Cars (in millions) 8.55 mn

Downtown Bangkok has 5 million vehicles in a space that can only accommodate 2 million. Skyways, expressways, flyovers and a 23-km transit system have reduced jams by 40%. But the traffic still sucks.

Rio De Janeiro

Average Speed (kmph) 20 km/hr

Total No. of Cars (in millions) 5.2 mn

The even-odd licence plate system has been effective in reducing mad congestion; several parts of Rio are also auto-free zones. Running out of gas is an infraction of the law, whether the immobilised vehicle is an obstacle for other traffic or not.

London

Average Speed (kmph) 19 km/hr

Total No. of Cars (in millions) 2.6 mn

Has a daily congestion charge of £11.50 for driving a vehicle within a charging zone. Greater London is a low-emission zone throughout the year, encouraging diesel trucks to become cleaner. Yes, parking is expensive.

Los Angeles

Average Speed (kmph) 32 km/hr

Total No. of Cars (in millions) 7.49 mn

Has the worst traffic in the US; but the city is a classic example of using traffic technology solutions and sensors to control traffic. State is planning congestion pricing in expresslanes, but LA’s infamous freeways remain clogged.

New York City

Average Speed (kmph) 15.28 km/hr

Total No. of Cars (in millions) 3 mn

Parking in NY is prohibitive, typically upwards of $500 a month. Parking-related fines are very high and strictly enforced. A greater reliance on mass transit and the recession has led to a drop in traffic. Bloomberg’s Congestion Tax shelved.

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The Problems

Not enough roads for rising car population to ply on

roads for rising car population to ply on No pedestrian walkways or footpaths in most cities

walkways or footpaths in most cities Inadequate , poor quality public transport in most places

, poor quality public transport in most places Acute shortage of parking space. Bad town planning.

of parking space. Bad town planning. Bus corridor only in a few cities, implementation shoddy

only in a few cities, implementation shoddy Extremely low average driving speeds in big cities

Possible Solutions

Elevated and tertiary roadways

tertiary roadways Dedicating more space for pedestrians and cyclists

space for pedestrians and cyclists Limit parking space to discourage car ownership

space to discourage car ownership Introduce BRT in other cities, limit entry into BRT corridor

in other cities, limit entry into BRT corridor Introduce public transport

public transport Introduce high congestion tax

high congestion tax Ensure uniform road width to de-bottleneck busy roads

By Arindam Mukherjee with Prarthna Gahilote, Dola Mitra, Madhavi Tata and Minu Ittyipe