KMC rules out congestion charges

If Kolkata were to be adopt the congestion charge model implemented in cities like Singapore and London, the viability of mass transport systems would dramatically improve as it would encourage citizens to take public transport.

Implementation of a congestion charge would require investment as well as creation of a new tariff structure, said Alapan Bandopadhyay, commissioner of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).

In what he dubbed as a socialist hangover, he said the state tended to control the tariff structure of the public transport system.

Until private operators could operate freely and charge as needed, products and services could not be improved, he admitted.

Congestion charging was a way of ensuring that those using valuable and congested road space made a financial contribution.

It encouraged the use of other modes of transport and was also intended to ensure that journey times were reduced for road users and more predictable.

The London scheme required drivers to pay 8 UK pounds per day if they wanted to drive into central London during peak hours when the scheme was in operation. The implementation of the scheme had seen a reduction of four-wheeler traffic entering the zone marked out as congestion prone by 21 per cent, said Murad Qureshi, member of the London assembly, and chair of the London Waterways Commission at a seminar organised by the Centre for Social Markets, an UK-based NGO, on the theme, 'Climate change: The urban transportation challenge'.

The carbon dioxide emission levels had reduced 16 per cent in response.

There were little or no change in the number of trips to central London as 50-60 per cent of travellers had shifted to public transport.

The capacity of metro network, light railways, and other modes of rapid mass transport needed to be scaled up to encourage private car users to switch to public modes of transport.

Public private partnerships can be encouraged in the area, Bandopadhyay added.

In parallel, moves to promote non-motorist transportation (NMT) could reduce pollution.

This included providing proper walkways to encourage pedestrians and cyclists and integration of NMT with the urban transport system.

Kolkata had only 6 per cent of road space and the city civic body could not possibly provide for bicycle pathways on narrow and cramped roads that hardly allowed sufficient space for motorised transport, the commissioner claimed in response.

He, however, did not deny scope for long term planning on these lines and drawing inspiration from the bicycle use system prevailing in The Netherlands. However, many pavements in Kolkata were occupied by hawkers backed by different KMC schemes.