New Delhi: Following the scathing remark of Delhi High court on the alarming rise in pollution levels in the capital, the AAP government announced its road rationing plan that allows plying of private vehicles with even and odd registration numbers on alternate days.
The decision will be implemented from Jan 1, 2016 on a trial basis for a few weeks.
Questions are being raised over the feasibility of the plan.Though Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is making every effort to calm down the apprehensions of Delhites, he even assured that it's a temporary solution and if this move causes too much inconvenience it will be shelved.
Undeniably, it's a bold initiative but if the government is trying to follow the example of Beijing, then it should also be kept in mind that they had extensively pre-planned to tackle the repercussions.
Here we take a quick look at the current state of Transport in Delhi and its preparedness for this great commuter shift
According to official data, the city has 2.7 million private cars and 5.8 million two-wheelers, From Jan 1, half of these—around 4.3 million will be off roads daily which mean that millions will depend on public transport system.
Delhi Metro
This would bring an immense pressure on Delhi Metro which already ferries 2.7 million passengers on weekdays and operates 216 trains that make 2,900 trips a day. It runs trains at a frequency of 2.09 minutes during peak hours and 2.48 minutes during off-peak hours on the Yellow, Red and Blue lines.
According to a HT report, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation would add new coaches only by September. It has ordered 258 new coaches, the delivery of which will begin from December 2016 through 2018.
Delhi Metro doesn't have connectivity to the inner areas of Delhi.
DTC buses
There is a huge shortage of DTC buses in Delhi. The DTC fleet, which carries 3.5 million people across the city and NCR every day, is down to 4,712 buses from 6,204 five years ago after discarding worn-out vehicles.
The transport department issued a tender for 1,880 buses four months ago but no bidder came forward. It would be in March that the Delhi Transport Corporation would get new buses, according to a leading daily.
On top of these, the "first mile" and "last mile" connectivity for Metro and DTC buses remains a major challenge for the Delhi government.
The move will coincidentally benefit the auto rickshaw and taxi wallahs.
Auto-Rickshaw
Though auto-rickshaws rank closely behind DTC and metro, drivers often refuse passengers. Delhi has 80,000 autos but 90% cannot go to NCR , forcing commuters to use cars or taxis .Moreover, Metro doesn't connect to the inner areas of the city that poses a pertinent question --How will the lower-income households deal with auto-rickshaw and taxi costs?
Taxi
Naturally people with their cars parked at home would need a way to commute.
Many would prefer cabs which in turn would increase demands drastically. In the case, the private taxi operators would need to heighten their prices. It's exactly what they do now. And the demand would definitely be higher once this ruling is implemented.
While the rich people with enough resources can buy a new vehicle with an odd or even number, it would be the Aam Aadmi who would be most affected.
