For congestion charges to work in India, a sense of order has to be brought to our roads
This newspaper carried a report yesterday that spoke about how the Parliamentary Committee on Urban Affairs is exploring the possibility of Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) to reduce congestion in metropolitan areas, particularly in downtown areas. This scheme has been successful in reducing congestion in both these cities and despite complaints from car users, both cities have reduced vehicular congestion. However, there are some major differences between implementing congestion charges in foreign cities and in India. It must be stated that technology should not be one of them as experience in both cities has meant that the technology has matured. But as the experience with the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) has demonstrated, the sudden implementation of a technology can have major pitfalls. How will the ERP be chargedIJ There is no answer. In london and Singapore, the system is automated, but minus a standard machine-readable number-plate or widespread radio-identification tags on cars, how can the parliamentary committee suggest such an ideaIJ
Also, implementing an ERP without building sufficient and interconnected public transportation solutions will be a recipe for disaster. Just as authorities are planning to ban cars in Delhi’s commercial hub of Connaught Place without thinking of alternative modes of access. In Delhi for example, a botched bus acquisition programme, a decade ago, has meant that there has been no addition of new buses since then. With a multitude of bodies ‘governing’ Delhi, from the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal to the elected Arvind Kejriwal Government and five municipal bodies, including two unelected ones, with little or no coordination between them, there needs to be a much better thought process in place before any half-baked plan is put into practice. First and foremost, before private vehicle users are punished, and this includes all private users including two-wheelers, there needs to be a dramatic enhancement in the build-out of public transportation infrastructure. Not just the metro, delays in whose construction are unpalatable to residents and are responsible for major traffic congestion to better roads. Much better planning of buses and also parking infrastructure have to be made so that residents can park and ride. Also, authorities must not be held to ransom by the rich and famous in infrastructure build-out, like has happened outside the tony borough of Vasant Vihar where a badly designed flyover has been an unmitigated disaster and solving that issue has led to a decade of chaos. These issues do not take away the fact that private vehicles are responsible for both carbon and nitrogen oxide pollution and that the capital city of this country has some of the worst air quality in the world. Solutions have to be found, but they will need to be well-thought out.