Why every hour has become rush hour

Our cities can’t be decongested unless private cars are taxed more than buses

With 10 million registered vehicles, rush hour is a round-the-clock phenomenon in the Indian Capital. If you believed that certain times of the day witness less traffic on the roads as commuters might not venture outdoors during those hours, it’s time you revisited the assumption. Belying the notion that the number of vehicles takes a sharp dip during non-peak hours, a Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) study emphasises that in the Capital, there is “virtually no difference in time taken to travel between peak and non-peak hours.” The Capital is not the only city bursting at the seams with too many cars. By 2025, India’s car population is set to treble to nearly 35 per 1,000 persons. Certain Indian cities, including Delhi, Chennai and Coimbatore will have more than 100 cars per 1,000 persons, suggest estimates by The Energy and Resources Institute. The average peak hour speeds in major corridors in Delhi (16 km/hr), Mumbai (16 km/hr) and Kolkata (18 km/hr) are abysmally poor .

Environmentalists have come up with two approaches to fight traffic congestion in cities. The first has to do with scaling up affordable and reliable modes of transport, with last mile connectivity. The second — more popular across the globe — is to disincentivise car travel with demand management. For instance, recommends the Centre for Science and Environment, the government should take away the hidden subsidies for car owners. Parking fees in Indian cities are among the lowest in the world and there is no congestion charge for cars .

Compared to other means of transport, buses, the mainstay of public transport, end up paying the highest road tax. This should shift to private vehicles, if we are serious about decongesting our roads.