Rules of The Road: How Gurgaon Can Get Rid of Its Traffic Congestion The Singapore Way

In 1952, Nobel-winning economist William Vickrey proposed the idea of electronic congestion pricing to reduce road congestion when he was on a committee to improve New York's finances. The fundamental idea was simple: We know that our cars are expensive, and our time and fuel valuable. We pay for these from our own pockets. However, we barely notice our contribution to traffic congestion, because other drivers on the road pay the price.

Vickrey proposed that the only way to prevent road congestion and lower accidents on the road is to charge drivers depending on the time of the day they drive and the vehicular intensity on the road. Even though New York rejected Vickrey's proposal, Singapore implemented his proposal for the first time in 1975. Ironically, Vickrey died in a road accident when he was driving late in the night. Harvard economist Edward Glaeser says that he often imagines Vickrey driving late in the night to avoid congestion.

Risky roads

It is important to remember Vickrey today, because according to a recently released World Health Organization (WHO) report, worldwide, 1.25 million people died on roads in traffic accidents in 2013. India and China accounted for 37 per cent of these deaths. In absolute numbers, India registered 2, 07,551 road accident deaths in 2013. In 2012, the number of deaths was 2,31,027. Despite the decline, the numbers are still high.

According to the Institute Of Transportation and Development Policy, the National Capital Region (NCR) remained the most-congested area in India in 2014. In Haryana, Gurgaon registered the highest number of road accidents. In 2014, of the 6,300 accidents that took place, 716 were on the highways in Gurgaon, according to the Haryana State Government. In fact, the only way to avoid congestion on Gurgaon roads is to---like William Vickrey---drive either early in the morning or late in the night. 

The Haryana government recently decided to allow private developers to build sector roads in Gurgaon, negotiating directly with farmers to buy land in exchange for a higher FSI.  As Gurgaon is called the Singapore of India, let us see what Gurgaon can learn from Singapore in lowering road congestion and accidents.

There are broadly two ways to handle congestion: One is to widen and increase the number of roads. The other is congestion pricing. However, in a city like Gurgaon, which adds more than 60,000 cars to roads every year, widening the road network is unlikely to lower congestion. That leaves authorities with the congestion-pricing model. The Central government is mulling a cess on fuel to deal with road congestions across cities, but as transport is mostly a real estate problem, this is unlikely to reduce congestion.

It could be argued that Gurgaon is a third-world city and applying a congestion-pricing may not be practical. But a look at how Singapore implemented this policy can be illuminating. When Singapore imposed the congestion-pricing model, it was a low income country lacking in natural resources or basic amenities. However, congestion on roads immediately declined after the city-state implemented congestion pricing. Even today, Singapore is the second-most dense nation in the world, and yet its streets are congestion-free. If Singapore can raise its per capita income levels to among the highest in the world by implementing the right policies, Gurgaon, too, can.

The Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway is one of the best roads in India. But even such roads have failed in solving the problem of congestion because the toll collection system at booths has proved inefficient. Singapore has an electronic toll collection system, and this has modernized the process. With modern technology like transponders and magnetically encoded stickers, electronic toll collection is quite possible. Gurgaon can also use modern technology to reduce traffic congestion.