BANGALORE: A peak-hour ride though the Central Business District may soon come at a price.

The government of Karnataka has taken up for consideration a proposal from the Union ministry of urban development to implement congestion pricing policy to ensure the city is free from “excessive motorization”. It will also encourage investment in public transport, create infrastructure for walking and cycling, and strategize transit-oriented development (TOD).

“We got the proposal notification recently,” confirmed V Manjula, Directorate of Land Urban Transport. The urban transport authorities will now vet the proposal and study the issue before replying to the Centre.

Congestion charging is a system of imposing a surcharge on users of roads or public goods, subject to congestion through excess demand. The charge could apply to services like buses, electricity, Metro and even telephones. It is implemented by either cordoning off a busy area of the city for private vehicles, and imposing a toll on those who want to enter the area for access to a lane or facility.

This charge has helped increase lane speed and reduce traffic in London, Milan, Singapore and Stockholm; the wide streets of central and west London are almost free of rows of cars. Congestion was reduced by 21%.

Some stakeholders managing Bangalore’s transport needs are already pressing for some sort of congestion pricing mechanism in the city.

MA Saleem, additional commissioner of police (traffic), told TOI, “Once congestion charging comes into effect, more people will switch over to public transport, reducing traffic problems. Bangalore’s typical problem is that IT corridors are congested as the roads are narrow. Every year, the number of vehicles on Bangalore’s roads goes up by 10%. The city already has over 47.5 lakh vehicles.”

However, Saleem admitted that until the city gets a reliable and faster integrated public transport system, it is difficult to implement the congestion pricing policy.

What the Centre wants

The proposal by the Union ministry, sent to the state on January 5, 2013, says:

“Excessive use of private vehicles on available road space is inefficient use of precious urban land. There is, thus, a need to discourage use of private vehicles in core areas of the city to increase the mobility of the people at large so they can reach their offices, workplaces, business centres, ships etc in time, without losing valuable working man hours…The congestion pricing is premised on a basic concept, ‘charge a price in order to allocate a scarce resource to its most valuable use’.”

The ministry, however, says that before implementing the congestion charging system, city authorities need to ensure that people have a good public transport system, pedestrianization and cycling. Congestion pricing should not be seen as a means to fill up government coffers but be used to develop non-motorized transport infrastructures and facilities, it adds.

It asks state urban development departments to conduct studies in each city, on whether demographic conditions permit congestion pricing in core areas.

Bangaloreans thumb down levy

Though it’s an old idea, Bangaloreans are surprised about congestion pricing in the city. They point out that high vehicle taxes work as a disincentive to buy cars and two-wheelers. With 6,500-odd buses making nearly 80,000 trips daily to cover 800 sqkm area of the city, BMTC is already a stretched resource. Namma Metro is sharing this burden, but covers only a small stretch. Citizens say public transport options are too few.

Source http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com