Ending traffic woes: Many paths to a lasting solution

Bengaluru has grown exponentially in terms of population – both human and vehicles. The present human population is estimated to be around 11 million and the vehicle population is about 5.8 million. In other words every other person is supposed to own a vehicle either a two wheeler or a four wheeler. But the roads in terms of length have more or less remained constant at 14,000 kms. The net result of all this is the volume of traffic on the same road area has increased tremendously leading to congestion and chaos.

We have only two possible solutions to this. Increase the road length and go for multi modal transport system by introducing a combination of Metro, Commuter Rail and BRTS (Bus Rapid Transport System). As a part of this the Government decided to introduce Namma Metro in three phases covering a total distance of nearly 200 kms. The first phase was taken up around 7 years back and was supposed to be completed three years ago. As things stand today only small stretches of Metro have been completed and has in no way contributed to the reduction of private vehicles. In fact it has added to the traffic chaos because of unfinished construction and the consequent deterioration in road condition.

Now BMRCL has invited tenders for the 2nd phase and they are claiming that the work on Deepanjali Nagar – Kengeri will commence in 2 or 3 months time. They are supposed to complete a total of 72 km of the 2nd phase by 2020. Going by the track record so far it seems doubtful whether this schedule will be kept up. What are the real issues behind this inept handling and the consequent delays in completing the project in time? A deeper examination reveals the following deficiencies.

1. The project head should be a no non sense technocrat with sufficient project management experience and not a typical bureaucrat. Karnataka definitely has many such outstanding men who can be expected to deliver timely results. The appointment of bureaucrats has resulted in a typical passing the buck attitude as we have witnessed during the first phase where the dead lines have been extended at least half a dozen times. On the other hand the appointment of a technocrat will certainly help in better planning of the schedule and coordination among various agencies and achieve a timely completion.
2. Before finalising the route alignment, involve citizens in an intensive consultation process so that once the routes are frozen, disputes should not arise.
3. It is also understood that the technology adopted for Namma Metro is supposed to be very modern and state of the art but there have been opinions that it is also costly. Anyway nothing can be done about it now. It can only be a guideline when we take up metro works in other cities of the State.

For a city of the size of Bengaluru it is estimated that nearly 200 km of metro is required to be operational to bring about a significant improvement in traffic conditions. At present the sole provider of Public Transport BMTC caters to nearly 5.5 million passengers every day. Privately owned vehicles like cars along with taxis and autos are supposed to carry around 1.5 million passengers and there is an estimated 10% annual increase in traffic volumes, if our city continues to grow at the present rate. It means by 2020 the buses are supposed to carry 7 million passengers and the cars and other means of public transport will be carrying a little more than 2 million passengers.

If the present chaos and confusion on the roads of our city has to come under some semblance of sanity the ideal proportion of distribution of passengers among BMTC, cars, autos and taxis, metro and Commuter Rail System should be in the proportion of 40% by BMTC, 20% by Commuter Rail, 10% by cars, autos and taxis and 30% by Metro. It means out of an estimated 10 million passengers per day metro should carry at least 3 million passengers per day. This can be achieved by a network of around 200 kms of Metro connecting all the peripheral areas to the various business and industrial districts of Bengaluru. For this immediate plans have to be drawn up for the following:

1. Simultaneous starting of phase 2 and 3 of Metro so that the entire network of 200 kms will be a reality by 2020.
2. Within the same period Commuter Rail System (CRS) for which a DPR has already been prepared and gathering dust for the past six months in the corridors of DULT has to be taken up and completed.
3. BMTC bus routing should be thoroughly overhauled and planned more to act as feeder to Metro and CRS. Both Metro and CRS should be the primary providers of long distance connectivity.
4. Along with these schemes, a comprehensive parking policy should be implemented and which should be directed more towards increasing the carrying capacity of roads so that the need for indiscriminate widening of roads and felling of trees is obviated. The present proposal before the Government which seems to emphasise revenue generation by introducing metered parking should be modified to increasing the road capacity by banning parking along all the arterial and sub arterial roads of our city and concentrating more on building MLCPs at vantage points and strictly implementing the rule of basement parking. It is estimated that at present 40% of road space is taken up for parking. Releasing this blocked capacity will at once bring immediate relief to the chaotic traffic condition of our city.
5. This should also be accompanied by providing good sustainable paving for road surfaces and improving the geometry and surface conditions at all junctions on the arterial and sub arterial road network.
6. Immediate steps need to be taken to appoint a technocrat with a proven track record as the head of BMRCL for the next five years with a clear mandate to complete phase 2 and 3 of the Metro in time.
7. Initiate the process of citizen/community participation in finalising route alignments, provisioning for utilities within the metro stations like toilets, parking spaces etc.
8. A planned scheme should be developed so that the proportion of non passenger revenue reaches a level of 40 to 50% of the total revenue generation for BMRCL. This includes advertisement hoardings, concessionary contracts for various stalls inside the stations etc. This will not only make the project financially viable but also help in keeping the Metro fares at a reasonable and affordable level.
9. After all these are implemented we can think of making the movement of privately owned vehicles costly by imposing congestion tax.

Wider debate involving the various stakeholders especially the commuters and the citizens is urgently called for. A drastic condition calls for drastic steps and not a series of patchwork solutions.

(The writer is the founding president of Citizens’ Action Forum)

Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.