Participation across stakeholders needed to avert challenge

Congestion of urban roads and parking spaces by automobiles will become one of the biggest woes for large Indian cities over the next decade. Automakers must work proactively with other stakeholders to seek alternative, innovative solutions to this growing problem.

The development of large Indian cities will be weighed down by increasing congestion of roads and parking spaces in metropolitan areas over the next decade. Congestion is rising, due to increasing vehicle ownership and inadequacy of urban infrastructure like roads, public transport systems, traffic management systems and parking spaces.

Mumbai, one of the most congested cities in India, has a Travel Time Index (TTI) estimated at 1.5 to 1.8x indicating congestion levels comparable to other developed cities. This indicates that a 20 minute drive will take around 30 to 36 minutes during peak hours as compared to free flow period. This is despite per 1000 population penetration of cars in Mumbai being way below other western cities.

The area occupied by roads as a percent of total developed area in Tier-I cities in India is estimated at 16 percent as compared to 28 percent in the US. For example, Mumbai, one of the most congested cities in India, has only 8-10 percent of its land accounting for roads as compared to the desired allocation of 18-20 percent land internationally.

Congestion affects the quality of life and leads to higher economic costs due to rising travel time, shortage and higher cost of parking, reduced fuel efficiency for various modes of transport, increasing emissions and noise pollution. To address this problem, automakers must also work proactively with other stakeholders and seek alternative, innovative solutions.

Measures to tackle road congestion
There are three categories of measures to mitigate road congestion —
• Infrastructure capacity creation,
• Efficient capacity utilisation, and
• Demand management

While widening roads to create more lanes and creation of flyovers helps ease congestion in certain sections, it often moves the traffic bottleneck from one node to the next. More effective solutions include creation of new arterial roads, especially ring roads around the city centre and the periphery. Creating mass rapid transport systems with buses or trains connecting the major business and residential city centres is very effective since public transport is highly efficient in terms of space and fuel. Similarly, high capacity parking centres, including automated parking centres may be created to tackle shortage of parking spaces.

India has added more than 10,000 km of roads over the last 10 years (including lane expansion) and is expected to add over 30,000 km over the next 10-15 years. Moreover, the introduction of alternate modes of public transport like the Metro Rail Transport System (MRTS) and Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) across cities will help reduce urban congestion levels.

However, infrastructure creation has a long gestation period. So, there is a pressing need for measures that improve utilisation of the existing infrastructure, including information systems, intelligent transport systems, and advanced traffic management systems (like arterial street signal co-ordination, freeway ramp management and use of in-vehicle technology for superior navigation).

Demand can be managed through public awareness measures that encourage commuters to economise on the number of trips, avoid travel during peak hours, use public transport and opt for car pooling. Introducing congestion pricing or parking charges that encourage shifting to routes with lesser congestion and travel during off-peak hours will also help. Drastic measures can include levying higher taxes on fuel and increasing vehicle ownership cost through upfront taxes on vehicle purchase and multiple vehicle ownership.

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