Traffic woes

The Pune Municipal Corporation(PMC) is hastily implementing Pay and Park for all vehicles on most roads in Pune. The cost of owning a vehicle is increasing day by day. Lots of taxes and other fees are involved while buying a vehicle. Fuel costs keep on increasing. Vehicle maintenance costs are significant, chiefly due to the wear and tear caused due to rough roads at various places.Now add to this the extra expense that we will have to shell out everyday. Using own vehicle is now becoming a luxury.

Mostly when we go out for shopping, we need to stop at various places. The parking rates at various malls are already exorbitant. But, now even if you have to stop at some small shop in City area to buy some small item, which would hardly require 2 minutes, you'll have to shell out Rs. 2. Not that Rs.2 is very high for most of us, but  for some others, it really is. The cumulative cost of parking fees will easily go above Rs. 100 per month for most people.

The various reasons PMC gives is that they want to encourage people to use public transport,  de-congest the city roads and discipline the traffic. But, I think it has got all its calculations wrong. Now, since the public transport system was never good enough in Pune, I don't think charging for parking space will be strong enough deterrent for using private vehicles. People, who have already been used to travelling by own vehicle will prefer the parking charge, rather than use PMPML buses.

To de-congest the city roads, the traffic on those roads needs to be reduced. I don't think this issue can be addressed by charging parking fees. And if haphazard parking causes congestion, imposing penalties for improper parking should be the solution, and it is already being done. Moreover, improper parking is mostly a result of not having enough Parking space available. The PMC is not doing much to develop Parking lots in city area. The parking lots already developed are not good enough. The one near Mandai (at the place of Aryan Theater) does not have stairs for people to use before/after parking. The same route that is used by vehicles has to be used for walking up/down, meaning a lot of time and energy wasted. Moreover, its Entry and Exit gates keep on swapping. A big parking lot has been constructed near Modi Ganpati in Narayan Peth, but it is still not opened for the public, for dunno what reasons. Developing parking space should be the top most priority for PMC to de-congest the roads.

Unruly driving by rikshaw-men and PMPML bus drivers is also a major concern for the city traffic. Taking prompt action against them can prove to be useful for disciplining the traffic. Cars should not be allowed to stop on main roads for significant time, even if there are drivers waiting in them. Smaller buses should be used on narrow city roads. Public awareness camps should be held to imbibe proper traffic discipline in people. (But since no one cares for such awareness camps) high penalties should be imposed even on small traffic violations. Mass transport system projects (like Metros) should be planned and implemented at faster pace. Flop projects like BRTS should be scrapped immediately. Roads should be properly surfaced. Subways should be planned properly and implemented at suitable places(The subway at Goodluck chowk has already created lots of controversies due to improper planning). Flyovers should be built, wherever possible. Roads should not be dug up frequently. Timings for signals should be properly adjusted for smooth and continuous flow of traffic.

In short, a lot can be done to improve the traffic in Pune. All this needs to be done at a very fast pace, with proper planning, proper budgeting and by employing transparent means. But, this will be an almost impossible task for the corrupt and lazy PMC officials, so parking charges is the way to go...zero investment and lots of extra income.