Estimated cost of decongesting city will be Rs 40,000 crore in 2 phases

A high-powered committee set up by the Union urban development ministry has said if right policy framework is in place, autorickshaws and cycle-rickshaws can play an important role in decongesting the national capital. The committee has prepared an exhaustive 126-page report after taking inputs and holding deliberations with several stakeholders, as reported by sanjay kaw.

Auto, cycle rickshaws Of the 8.29 million vehicles in Delhi, there are about 91,840 autorickshaws in the city. This is just 1.1 per cent of the entire vehicular population, yet autoric-kshaws transport 3.6 per cent of Delhi’s commuters. About 10 per cent people use autorickshaws for work, 23 per cent for education and 22 per cent for health, shopping and other things. A single autorickshaw may serve at least 8 to 10 trips a day, while a car would cover only two trips and occupy parking space.

Similarly, in case of cycle rickshaws which play a similar role in the city, it is estimated they are about 700,000 in number, of which only 89,429 have a licence.

Master Plan of Delhi–2021 notes that between 1981 and 2001 and subsequently 2011 there has been a phenomenal growth of vehicles and traffic in Delhi.

As per the Transport Demand Forecast Study conducted by the Delhi government in 2011, it is seen that between 2001 and 2008, the private motor vehicle trips increased from 28 per cent to 35 per cent and non-motorised vehicle trips from 9 per cent to 15 per cent.

However, bus trips have decreased from 60 per cent to 42 per cent of the total number of trips.

In a business-as-usual scenario, it is estimated that the total trips would rise to 280 lakh by 2021, including 257 lakh motorised ones and 23 lakh non-motorised trips.

Road network optimisation The report said that primary network should be complemented with a secondary one with pedestrians and cyclists given priority in order to facilitate shortcuts, reduced trip length and reduced travel time. However, in Delhi, secondary networks have progressively been closed, removed, blocked or gated, causing localised traffic to use arterial roads for local movement, thus congesting them even further. Providing a finer secondary road network would also enhance walkability and provide shortcuts and shorter travel distances for cyclists and pedestrians, thus contributing to easier access to public transport, amenities, markets and schools, and in turn reducing private vehicle dependency and vehicular congestion on arterial roads. A majority of the localised traffic congestion problems as well as road fatality issues can be solved by better junction design, signal management and provision of proper crossing facilities for pedestrians and cyclists at all intersections and mid-block crossings. To implement the same, the top 100 junctions in the city having congestion problems should be taken up for retrofitting immediately.

Walking The report said that walking was the most important and sustainable mode of transport in Delhi. About 35 per cent of the city comprises of commuters who only walk. These commuters are different from the ones who walk to access public transport.

Therefore, in spite of the enormous motorisation, the highest share of people still walk.

This is in spite of the poor walking environment and danger to life by walking on roads.

Data shows that more than 60 per cent fatalities on roads involve pedestrians.

Safe walking environment is desirable and necessary for any society that is developing or in the developed world, as it provides for the basic right to commute. With increasing road widths, crossings at junctions is riskier and the space for walking is narrower than before, with the result that most activities happen on road even if the roads were not designed for them. Since walking is so uncomfortable, most people prefer to drive or use private vehicles.

Delhi still carries more than 60 per cent of passengers on buses from the overall mass transit ridership — much higher than the Metro.

With efficient and comfortable BRTS development, bus services will be able to provide greater comfort, reduce travel time and integrate with all systems to provide seamless travel experience.

Parking Prices & management For every car sold, the city is committing to provide three parking places — one at residence of the owner, one at workplace and third at a number of places that the owner may visit, such as shopping centres, movie halls or recreation centres. Each of these parking places use up valuable urban land, which otherwise would have been adequate for housing needs of the poor. The committee has recommended that pricing of parking should be based on “user pay” principle, reflecting the cost of the public good — the precious urban space. It said more parking spaces should not be created as they attract more cars, except in commercial centres where they should be charged at par with the space rentals in the area. Delhi has one of the lowest parking charges. Parking charges should be enhanced especially in and around commercial centres, which will enable easier management of available parking space.

It said heavy penalties should be imposed on parking in unauthorised or undesignated spaces and a large percentage of parking spaces in institutional, residential and commercial areas should be available as “shared parking” to reduce total demand. Another recommendation is that parking on footpaths should be made a cognizable offence with heavy penalties, on-street and off-street parking on roads and parking lots should be clearly demarcated.

Estimated cost of implementing various measures for decongesting Delhi will cost about Rs 9,200 crore in first phase and Rs 10,561 crore in the second phase. The report said that for parking pricing and management, it will cost Rs 70 crore in first phase, for multi-modal integration at Metro stations and integrated passenger terminals will work out to be Rs 2,412 crore in first phase and Rs 2,745 crore in the second phase, cycle track and footpath will work out about Rs 670 crore in first phase and Rs 1,700 crore in second phase, cycle sharing system will work out about Rs 865 crore in first phase and Rs 850 crore in the second phase, bus service improvement and BRTS will cost Rs 1,893 crore in first phase and about Rs 4,866 crore in second phase, removal of choke points will cost Rs 1,250 crore, missing links and network improvement will cost Rs 1,800 crore, junction improvement will cost about Rs 200 crore in first phase and Rs 400 crore in second phase and capacity building will work out to Rs 40 crore.