Home Minister Dr G. Parameshwara’s plan to improve the traffic situation in Bengaluru by reducing waiting time at traffic signals by half, has met with mixed reactions. Some believe it will ease congestion to an extent, while others vehemently disagree. In a city of more than 39,000 junctions and 50 lakh vehicles, is it even feasible?
Home Minister Dr G. Parameshwar has been stressing improving the traffic situation in the city from day one of assuming office. His plan to reduce the waiting time by 50 per cent in all traffic signals will come as a relief for commuters. But, how will the traffic police manage to implement it?
Bengaluru city boasts of 57 lakh vehicles, which mostly crawl and plough their way through peak hour traffic that can make their commute slower than walking. The limited infrastructure and an increase in vehicle population has left the city’s vehicular traffic crumbling at its feet.
“We cannot make new roads or introduce more sub-ways. What the home minister meant when he said reducing the waiting time at the signal by 50 percent was purely from psychological point of view. The idea is, instead of waiting at one junction and getting frustrated in traffic, it’s better if there is a continuous movement of vehicular traffic flow on the road. For example, if there are two junctions — junction A and junction B, a commuter has to stop for a red light to reach straight to junction B. What could be done is to allow vehicles to take a left turn, go around 4 km extra let them take a loop and come to junction B. Therefore by doing this, there will be continuous movement of traffic flow and the road capacity will also increase,” said a senior police officer.
He also said that reducing the signaling time at the junction will not solve the purpose and cannot be applied everywhere. It will only aggravate the issue. “Every traffic junction has its own capacity. If for instance the waiting time at a particular junction is two minutes and it gets reduced to 1.20 seconds, there will be a pile-up on the next junction, leaving the problem unsolved,” added the officer.
Read | ‘An impossible, impractical solution to the city’s traffic chaos’
Experts emphasise that there should be more use of public transport. “The city which has the vehicle capacity of 13 lakh vehicle has currently now have over 58 lakh vehicle plying on the city roads. We need more public transport to de-congest the city roads like more metros, mono trains, more BMTC buses etc to ease off the volume of traffic from the roads,” said a senior police officer.
“There is always scope for improvement. The idea proposed by our home minister Dr. G Parameshwara can be implemented in the city. Like, we reduced the waiting time at the waiting period at Hebbal from Yelahanka to Basaveshwara Circle. Earlier, where it used to take over two hours to clear a traffic light, now the drive has become very smooth and one reaches the destination early. So, such small changes in the timings can be implemented at the junctions which in fact the department is doing,” said DCP Traffic (West) S Girish.
Solutions
- Introduce more BMTC buses in the city. Currently there are only 6, 000 and the government needs to introduce at least 8,000 more to improve public transportation in Bengaluru and reduce waiting time at the signal.
- For short distances, the government should encourage people to walk by providing pedestrian-friendly footpaths.
Lost in translation?
On Wednesday, Home Minister Dr G. Parameshwar clearly said, “We do not mind bringing down the average vehicle movement speed of 25 km to 16 km, which is almost 9 km less, but this will largely help us in reducing the waiting period at traffic junctions.”
But Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M.A. Saleem said that the Minister has specifically pointed only at Silk Board Junction where the waiting time should be reduced. “The Minister has not said the system should be adapted at all traffic junctions in the city.”
Experts call for improving public transport
The traffic management centre, which was opened with much fanfare to improve the traffic flow in the city, is unable to cope with the influx of new vehicles. Over 850 new cars get added to the city roads, which lowers road capacity and results in traffic snarls.
Experts opined that new vehicles coming to the city everyday is bound to add to the burden and slow down the traffic management system. Hence it would be wrong to hold the traffic management system solely responsible for it.
Urban expert Ashwin Mahesh said, “The correct way to manage the traffic in the city is not through signals, but to improve the availability of public transport. Then the people will stop using their vehicles and take public transport. If people are waiting at signal for 60 seconds and five buses go through that signal, you can push in 150 people in that public transport. In current scenario if the signal timing is reduced it will make no difference, as the numbers of vehicles which have to pass through the signal remain the same.”
He further pointed out the city has 6,000 buses. We need more buses. Until we will add 8,000 more buses on the road nothing will change the scenario. Today, if you reduce the waiting time at the signal, it will only add up in queuing up of the vehicles, he added.
Unlike in foreign countries where there is a decentralized system for monitoring and managing the traffic, Bengaluru can’t adapt the same as there are many constraints.
According to a senior police officer, decentralizing the system and creating separate monitoring unit may help in the long run to decongest the city roads. However, the ratio of the public to private transport needs to change. The city motorists should be encouraged to take public transport or opt for car pooling, he added.
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.
