The AAP Government’s decision to allow private vehicles with odd and even registration numbers to ply on the roads of the national Capital on alternate days from January 1 on a trial basis for two weeks to bring down city’s pollution levels after the High Court called Delhi a “gas chamber” has drawn mixed reactions from critics.
The on-going debate addresses the issues related to the decision and its consequences.
Will the odd-even formula help reduce pollutionIJ
The odd-even formula is not going to reduce the number of vehicles plying in the city by half as expected. Nevertheless, it would help reduce the pollution level to a great extent. The carbon and other pollutants emitted by vehicles are related to the time the vehicles spend on road. As the new formula would certainly reduce the number of vehicles on the road, the travel time would obviously be reduced which means fewer cars plying on the road for lesser time. This would definitely reduce air pollution. Besides, the new initiative will inculcate the habit in the public to use public transport.
How convenient is the public transportIJ
Many people complain that the public transport system is in a pathetic condition. And banking on it only means hindering not only their travel but also their work drastically. Despite having a lot of problems, Delhi has one of the best public transport systems in India. But often the attitude of Delhiites to show off prevents them to access the public transport system.
In fact if people belonging to the middle and higher class avail the public transport, it’s bound to be improved. The influential section of society always works as a check on any systm and institution.
However, the Government to improve the transport system has proposed to take major steps like increasing the frequency of metro trains, along with the number of coaches from 6 to 8. The last-mile connectivity would be augmented. The number of DTC buses is also to be increased.
Even if people cannot do without cars they can always hire cabs between 8 am and 8pm.
The Government has even exempted single women from the odd-even rule. It’s desirable that more women travel in public transport to ensure safety to other women. More women travelling in public transport will encourage others to step out without any inhibitions.
Will residents resort to buying another carIJ
It’s being anticipated that the formula might lead to a situation where a large number of people would resort to changing number plate every day. This is one of the bizarre arguments ever heard. Will people really bother to change number plate every dayIJ As most of the people, in Delhi, park their vehicle at public places, would it be possible to do so without being noticedIJ If people are resorting to illegal activities, law should take care of that.
As far as the argument of buying two cars is concerned, it is not feasible for everyone. Those who can afford already have more than one car. Those who can afford but avoid buying due to parking problem will continue to do so as the problem still persists. Even if we assume people can resort to buying two cars having odd and even number plates, simple policy can stop them from doing so. Policy of one car registration per
person and two cars in a joint family can help avoid this situation. Even charging higher premium on road tax for the second car may also help. Other policy of arbitrary allocation of registration number of a car through a simple computer programming can be helpful.
Are private cars without parking burden on GovtIJ
less than 1 per cent of the car owners in Delhi have their own parking. Considering the crisis of space in the city, especially in the suburb where every inch is encompassed leaving no scope even for windows and ventilation, creating space for parking really gets tough. Very few colonies in the city, including some of DDA, have their own parking.
It has almost become an unwritten policy that the space adjacent to a particular house belongs to its residents and it’s their right to park their car/cars there even if it causes troubles to other commuters. Even if the recent reconstructed apartments offer parking space, it’s not enough for all to accommodate. locations which have proper parking space are unaffordable for most of the people. Given the situation, maximum vehicles are parked on the road, thus occupying Government space.
Even Maruti Alto 800, considered one of the smallest cars, covers approximately 6 square yard of land when parked. Minimum market price for one square yard of residential plot is at least Rs 3 lakh in a moderate location. However, it’s much higher in the posh areas. Thus the parking space for a simple Maruti Alto 800, which covers the least area, costs Rs 18 lakh to the Government.
Including the additional area needed to operate a car on the road or park it (as a car always needs extra space to go back and forth and even while plying on road it needs to maintain a minimum distance from other cars), the cost will go up to around Rs 36 lakhs. While the road tax charged on the Maruti Alto 800 is merely Rs 13,000. However, the cost of occupying Government land will be high in the cases of SUVs and big cars. The area covered by a Honda City or Maruti Esteem is around 8 square yard, which raises the cost to Rs 48 lakh. Whereas the market price of Honda City is just around Rs 9 lakh. Cars are undervalued in India and thus often people purchase more cars than actually required. It’s more like giving 8 square yard of land to the owner of Honda City while denying a poor even 1 square yard of land to sleep.
Juggis occupying Government space becomes “aankhon ki kirkiri” for all but no action is taken against SUV occupying 10 square yard of prime land. The space occupied illegally by cars gets completely blocked whereas building multiple floors on the same land can accommodate several hapless and homeless people. Thus the Government is giving subsidy to the rich at the cost of the poor.
Sunita Narayan, an eminent environmentalist, talks about five types of costs a motor vehicle bears on society. She says, “At the very least, five costs have to be added to the price of each vehicle. One, the cost of building a road. Two, the cost of maintaining roads, the cost of policing on the road, and the cost of powering the millions of traffic lights. Three, the crippling cost of local air pollution and bad health which requires monitoring, control and regulation. Added to this, is evidence that vehicles are key contributors to pollution, which is feeding climate change and will result in even bigger costs. Four, the cost of congestion, which every motorist on a busy road imposes on fellow travellers — from delays that cost time, to increased fuel consumption that costs money. Five, the cost of space for parking vehicles, at home and at work.”
What else the Government can doIJ
Old buses and trucks, diesel tempos and generators running during power failure, thermal power plants, and diesel machinery at construction work are the prime causes of air pollution.
Along with other drastic measures undertaken by the Government, the Delhi Government should immediately stop diesel subsidy and gradually phase out diesel vehicles and machineries and ban the city petrol pumps from selling it. Even the diesel vehicle from other States must not be allowed to enter Delhi from 6 am to 12 am.
Is the policy entirely impracticalIJ
In March 2014, Paris experimented with this concept. To control dangerous levels of pollution, the French Government ordered cars with number plates ending with even numbers to stay off the road. Nearly 4,000 fines were issued to drivers who flouted the restrictions. This helped in controlling pollution. The Chinese capital, Beijing, banned cars during its 2008 Olympic Games on the basis of odd-even numbers with some success. Beijing tried it again in 2013 when the level of pollution became too high.
Mexico City introduced a new policy in 1989. Instead of odd and even numbers, it tried to have cars with a particular last number off the roads on a particular day. For instance, a car with a number plate ending with particular numbers would not run on particular days of the week. Columbian city Bogota revised the policy of Mexico City by switching the combinations of days and numbers every year, making it difficult to circumvent it by buying another car. In India, autos with odd-even numbers were banned on alternate days in Jind, Haryana. The drive turned out to be a major success.
Critics claimed that this scheme is too impractical to be implemented on a long-term basis and it is more suited to deal with an emergency situation like Beijing’s in 2013. The Delhi Government too would try it out for a fortnight from January 1, and then there will be a review to work out the future modalities.
Every new policy needs time to succeed. When in the mid-90s, the Supreme Court ordered that commercial vehicles in Delhi would have to switch to CNG, it seemed impossible to implement the ruling. But now CNG stations are seen everywhere and even private vehicles run on CNG. To bring a change we need to change our mindsets.
The critics who are dead against the move should come up with some viable solutions. Something should be done before it’s too late. let’s give it a try.
Come on Delhi, it’s a matter of just two weeks. We can manage without our cars for a fortnight. People do travel in public transport. It’s not a big deal.
(Anish Gupta and Aaleya Giri teach Economics and English respectively at Delhi University. Views expressed here are personal)