Some of the ‘best global practices’ will soon be implemented in the city to curb traffic congestion and pollution. If it’s successful, then you may not be able to buy a new vehicle if there is no parking space available for it.
In its first Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) for the city, the traffic department of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has suggested several measures that are prevalent across the globe today. Along with putting a cap on new vehicle registration, it has also recommended congestion tax in certain areas to ease traffic jams in the city.
Civic officials made it clear that it is a draft report of CMP and has been sent various agencies like the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and Traffic Police for their suggestions on it. The final report will be prepared after studying their suggestions and will be sent to the state for approval.
Additional municipal commissioner S.V.R. Srinivas said, “The report stresses on the strengthening of the urban transport infrastructure for the city. Public transport needs to be strengthened considerably as Mumbai being an island city, faces land crunch. Hence, land use planning was studied to propose the transportation plan.”
According to the civic officials, there has been tremendous rise in the registration of the number of vehicles in recent years in Mumbai. Around 15 lakh vehicles were registered in 2009-10 and it has increased to 22 lakh in 2015.
Civic officials said that the plan has also proposed institutional set up like forming a parking and urban transpiration wing to deal with city’s traffic and transportation issues.
The CMP has been drafted after a survey of several households and employment generating units over the course of six months and a detailed study over 1.5 years.
Due to the lack of parking spaces, the city of late has been witnessing traffic snarls across several places. As per the civic data, there are presently 92 parking lots in the city, of which 47 are in South Mumbai. There is only one parking plot for every 120 vehicles in the city.
