Why Restriction On Car Ownership Is An Option Indian Cities Must Explore

The Bombay High Court just made a suggestion working on which major cities of the country might be able to defeat the Frankenstein they have given birth to. Responding to a public interest litigation on the lack of parking spaces in the Maximum City, the high court has told the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, the City Traffic Police and the Urban Development Ministry to develop a policy on the city's traffic woes. It has suggested restricting car ownership per family and encouraging travel on water route as measures to handle traffic and related issues. "These days every family has two cars. This should be restricted to just one car per family. Unauthorised parking due to lack of space is a very serious problem in Mumbai, and is the cause of much traffic congestion. A large number of private vehicles enter the city every morning and leave in the evening, but they have no space for parking through the day. The government cannot sit on the problem anymore,” the HC observed. “There was a time about a decade ago when one could commute between Dadar and south Mumbai in just 20 minutes. Doing so is unimaginable now. It takes three hours to travel from Juhu to the airport. While it will not solve all your problems, water transport can act as a complementary mode of transport," the HC added. Though it might turn unpopular in the short term, the move will help cities achieve the larger good by and by. The short-term public fury may survive till the new rules are able to instill a fresh set of habits among the public. Most of the terrible-sounding problems, after all, are a matter of habit.

When the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led government in Delhi implemented the Odd-Even road space rule on Delhi roads, many considered buying another vehicle to duck the restrictions imposed on their vehicular movement. Most families in large cities have cars for each member because affordability is not an issue. Such families would not start using the Metro for their daily commute unless they have to. Like many other things, most of us are used to driving as far as our daily commute is concerned, and thinking of the larger good does not figure in our scheme of things. While we keep muttering cuss words every time we are stuck in huge traffic jams — which is as frequent as every drive — we don't really consider using public transport like the Metro or the bus netwok even for a day. For most of us, again, it would take an official ruling to leave the car at home.