For finding solutions to Mumbai’s traffic problems ,
Bombay High Court has set up a committee headed by Shri S Veeresh Prabhu (
Additional Commissioner of Police – traffic )
( source : Do
you have a solution for Mumbai's traffic woes ? / Times of India – Oct 16 )
Committee has sought suggestions from
everyone concerned on following issues ;
·
Restrictions on registrations of new
vehicles
·
Mandatory provisions for parking while
registering vehicles
·
Scrapping of old and obsolete vehicles
·
Elimination of hawking licenses
·
Policy for rules in respect of
aggregator cab services
·
Plying of mini BEST buses
·
Creation of interstate bus terminals
·
Setting up dump yards for abandoned
vehicles
·
Implementation of Intelligent Traffic
Management System
·
BMC plan to set up a Mumbai Parking
Authority that will plan , regulate and manage all street parking and public
parking spaces
Times of India , itself has suggested following :
CAP ON APP-CAB LICENCES
In my view, this may make matters worse !
If we want less no of PRIVATE cars on the roads, then
we need many more CABS – especially APP based .
May be even privately-owned cars being offered as
TAXIES , instead of just standing idle for 8 hours when the owner is working in
his office
CONGESTION
PRICING
It is a good idea to levy a “ congestion fee “ on
vehicles entering certain busy areas during peak hours
But a bad idea if “ human-operated “ toll-nakas are set up , on
all roads entering those “ BUSY AREAS “ , for collecting the congestion fees . That
will slow down the already crawling traffic
Here is a technology-based , solution which removes the
“ human “ from the process :
Leveraging
NaviC ? ………………………………………………………………………….[ 30 May 2017
]
ODD
- EVEN SYSTEM
This is an idea worth trying but it must be preceded by
a robust PUBLIC TRANSPORT such as BUSES
HEFTY
PARKING CHARGES
For over 2 years now, Mumbai Municipal Corporation is
trying to “ rent out “ parking spaces on public roads ( in congested areas ) ,
by charging hefty parking fees . This experiment has failed !
According to transport expert Ashok Datar ( as reported
in TOI report ) , more than 3 lakh vehicles are
parked on city roads ( - I think this figure must be much higher considering
that in Mumbai , we have more than 30 lakh registered
vehicles ! )
Once again , solution is :
WHY DO WE NEED TO DECIDE , WHO WILL / CAN , PARK
WHERE AND WHEN AND FOR HOW LONG ?
Let vehicle owners park any number of vehicles , anywhere and at
any time and for any period – if they manage to find a parking slot !
As long as vehicles are installed with pre-paid RFID chips , our Geo Satellite will
keep collecting parking charges and transfer to the bank account of Mumbai Municipal
Corporation !
No human intervention !
No arbitrary decisions !
No need for millions of applications to be processed !
No need for collection machinery !
No army of traffic police to check parking violations !
No scope for haftas !
And ISRO will do all of this for , may be Rs 100 crores , which
is dirt cheap !
If all 20 crore vehicles get covered by this Satellite , cost
per vehicle will be just Rs 5 / -
( read :
DEDICATED
BUS LANES
This can work only where the existing road is WIDE
enough to carve out a dedicated bus lane
In whole of Mumbai , I doubt whether there are more
than 2 / 3 roads which are wide enough for this
In the past , I have sent following suggestions ( 20 e-mails ) to our Policy Makers :