Transportation crisis in Chennai
K. P. SUBRAMANIAN
Traffic congestion in Chennai is frustrating. The volume capacity ratio on many roads during peak hours is more than one. Increase in road space accounts only 3 to 4 per cent of the total area, while about 425 vehicles are added every day.
The city’s vehicle population has zoomed to 32 lakhs from a mere 8 lakhs barely 12 years ago. Car and two-wheeler ownership in Chennai per 1000 population is 45 and 181 respectively. In Mumbai, the corresponding values are 24 and 30 respectively. Two-wheelers and cars occupy more than 90 and 60 times the road space than buses for the same travel demand.
The per capita trip rate per day in Chennai is 1.30 while that in Delhi and Mumbai are 1.05 and 1.15. The average trip length in Chennai was 11.25 km while that for Delhi and Mumbai has been 10.2 km and 11.4 km , notwithstanding the fact that the population of Chennai is only around half of that for Delhi and Mumbai.
The share of trips in public transport has diminished from 52 per cent during 1970 to 25 per cent in 2008. In Delhi and Mumbai, the corresponding values are 48 per cent and 52 per cent. The patronage for the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) in Chennai is abysmally low. The effect of increased bus strength from 2700 to 3200 during 2008 was nullified by launching 36 new routes to places located outside the Chennai Metropolitan Area, instead of augmenting the existing routes. The Urban Mass Transport Authority (UMTA) exists only on paper in the absence of a statutory footing. Parking demand in the city was 13,000 PCE (Passenger Car Equivalency) against a supply of 5100 PCE. On-street parking has led to a loss in the road capacity that ranged between 15 to 60 per cent. Traffic stream crawls at an average speed of 20 km/h.
Demand management
A car and a two-wheeler consume 5 and 2.6 times more energy than a bus. The carbon monoxide load in the city ranged between 1908 to 4198 mg/m3 against the permissible level of 200mg/m3. The emission load of the pollutant SPM (Suspended Particulate Matter) ranged between 264 to 451mg/m3 while the permissible level is 200mg/m3. The average noise pollution level in residential areas across the city is to 70 decibels (db) against the permissible level of 55db. On an average, about 620 persons die on the City roads annually in accidents. The fatality rate is around 35/10,000 vehicles. About 40 per cent of road accidents involve pedestrians and 10 per cent cyclists.
Most transport plans and projects overwhelmingly focus on supply side management, ignoring Demand Management (DM). The demand can be curtailed by raising price, through levying taxes on the use of public roads and parking places. In other words, those who are responsible for traffic congestion should be made to pay extra. In countries like Singapore, owning a car is extremely difficult. Trainers’ fee is hefty and the licence test includes two theory examinations.
Hunt for alternatives
Before you buy a car you need to prove that you can maintain it and show documentary evidence for car parking space. Commuters without the using capacity are levied a fine. Road pricing is a technique that requires a special licence to enter certain designated areas during peak hours.
The levy of high parking fees that totally represents the value of land should be used as a means to make the use of public transport more attractive. Bus priority techniques like ‘priority at signals’ may be introduced. Inter-modal connectivity among the MRTS, suburban trains and the MTC to provide seamless travel across modes is indispensable.
Patronage of the MRTS must be augmented. Any encroachment on footpaths and main carriageways should be strictly dealt with, akin to that on water bodies. A cynical school of above thoughts is that out of box solutions and unconventional thinking are all too much and will never work in the Chennai context. However, the moot point is, “Is there an alternative?” “What is the consequence of not making a beginning now?” Even a journey of thousand kilometres begins with the first step.
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