Underlining the need for implementing alternate measures such as “congestion pricing” to reduce the number of vehicles on city roads, a green body on Tuesday said regularisation of the odd-even car ra
Underlining the need for implementing alternate measures such as “congestion pricing” to reduce the number of vehicles on city roads, a green body on Tuesday said regularisation of the odd-even car rationing scheme will “reduce” its impact and it should only be used as an emergency measure.
The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri) in an impact assessment study on the two phases of the odd-even scheme observed that as private cars have limited contribution to the PM2.5 levels, the scheme had yielded only “marginal” reductions (4-7 per cent) during both the phases.
The body said the impact of the scheme with respect to traffic count, average speed and air quality declined during the second phase in comparison to the first phase and the decline could be probably due to people opting for “second cars with alternate number plates, installations of CNG kits or enhanced use of taxis.”
“The results of the two phases of the odd-even scheme in Delhi suggest that it is useful only when high pollution episodes are expected. We do not see merit in regularising the scheme. A more sustainable approach for dealing with air pollution not only in Delhi but also in other cities would be congestion pricing, which is a far more effective option,” Teri director-general Ajay Mathur said.
Congestion pricing is based on a “pay-as-you-use” principle, with an aim to reduce the number of vehicles and, in turn, encourage modal shift by charging vehicles on entry in designated restricted zones and times. This can be complemented by providing exemptions to higher-occupancy vehicles.
Teri said such a model had proved successful in cities such as Singapore, London, Sweden, Rome, Durham, Seoul, and San Diego. The congestion pricing scheme can be first tried out in different ways, including all-across congestion pricing, identification of low-emission zones and road-wise congestion pricing, Teri said.
Teri also urged the government to ensure the earliest possible introduction of BS-VI vehicle and fuel quality norms, real-time monitoring and reporting of industrial emissions in the NCR and the need for business models to convert agricultural waste into energy using biomass gasification technologies.
Sumit Sharma, a fellow at Teri, said the measures taken by the city government were more to control particulate matter rather than oxides of nitrogen (NOx). “We need multi-sectoral measures for the whole NCR to effectively reduce air pollutant levels and this calls for regular air quality management plans based on scientific studies,” he said.
While Teri acknowledged the car rationing scheme was successful in raising public awareness on air pollution as well as in improving traffic speed, it cautioned against the regularisation of this scheme, saying the rule should at best be used as an emergency measure.
The body said during the Phase II of the scheme, the general variation of PM2.5 concentration due to daily changes in local emissions, meteorology and background concentrations (influences from outside Delhi) was 42 per cent.
The reduction achieved by the scheme during this phase seems too small (4 per cent) to be captured among the other more dominating factors. Teri said as in the case of other cities in the world that have tried out the scheme, people could look for alternatives by purchasing new or old cars which would, over a period of time, neutralise and negate the positive impact.
