One-way roads have proven to be a useful method for easing traffic flow in major cities, especially in congested areas like the central business districts. The usual methodology followed is to have parallel roads beginning at common areas and ending at common areas have opposing flows of traffic. The network formed by M.G. Road, Brigade Road, Church Street, F.M. Cariappa Road and St. Mark’s Road in Bangalore can be taken as a prime example. In Calcutta, one can consider the network formed by A.J.C. Bose Road, Park Street, J.N. Road and Shakespeare Sarani as an example. In Bombay, the Nariman Point area is interspersed with arterial roads like the Madam Cama Road, Marine Drive, Jamshedji Tata Road, and all streets connecting these are one-way.

Chennai, however, has a peculiar aversion to one-way roads. Over the last decade, many attempts at creating one-way roads have failed. Three prime examples that can be considered are: (1) the network formed by Cenotaph Road, Anna Salai and Chamiers Road; (2) the network formed by T.T.K. Road, C.P. Ramaswamy Road and Chamiers Road; and, (3) the network formed by R.K. Mutt Road, Thiru Vi Ka Road, Kutchery Road and Oliver Road. Out of these experiments tried out by the Chennai Traffic Police (CTP), only the last one is still functional, resulting in considerably smoother flow of traffic and significantly lesser snarls.

Looking at the two failed cases, the first one was actually very suitable to the concept of one-way flow of traffic since Cenotaph Road, in particular, is narrow, and has had a significant road area reduced by the construction of an elevated road to connect it to Gandhi Mandapam Road at Nandanam. The CTP did introduce one-way system at this network, but backtracked within two-months due to continuous breaking of rules by the motorists using these roads.

Similarly, the one-way network formed by C.P. Ramaswamy Road, T.T.K. Road and Chamiers Road had to be discontinued due to the same reason.

In all fairness to the users of the road, both the above networks were ill conceived by the CTP: the starting and ending points were illogical. In the first case, a small stretch of Chamiers leading from Nandanam to Anna Salai was allowed to be two-way for the benefit of a small high-end residential area. In the second case, the entire stretch of the T.T.K. Road from Chamiers Road to Alwarpet was one-way, but C.P. Ramaswamy Road was one-way only from the St. Mary’s Road junction to Alwarpet.

But users too took advantage of the bad design, and stretched their breaking of rules to the extent of the roads not monitored by the CTP.

Perhaps using public hearings and with more stringent monitoring of traffic, the CTP will be able to introduce one-way traffic flows to ease traffic snarls and build-ups in many congested areas of Chennai. Obviously, one area begging for some intervention is T. Nagar.

Guest writer: Arindam Jana is a Researcher with the Small Enterprise Finance Centre housed at the Institute for Financial Management and Research.

Parking is a menace in every city, and most cities haven’t been able to tackle the problem efficiently. In Chennai, for instance, approximately 1200 vehicles get added to the city’s vehicular population every day, but the authorities have surrendered only 7 per cent of the total land area to accommodate all vehicles.

According to a recent study by CMDA, the demand for parking in central business district[1] (CBD) is more than twice the supply. For example, as of 2007, T. Nagar had the capacity to accommodate 800 cars against the required capacity of 2,151 cars. Similarly, Parry’s Corner had a capacity for 700 cars but needed space for 4,500. “This was the status some four years ago, and now the situation is worse,” official sources said.

The National Urban Transport Policy, a flagship programme of the Ministry of Urban Development devised parking policies in 2006. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM), the flagship scheme for city development, envisages formulation of parking policies for every city. However, the focus on specific policies to deal with parking woes has been minimal. According to Kamal Nath, the Minister for Urban Development, “”You can go underground or over-ground (with multi-storied parking lots), but I don’t want to have any new construction in the country without parking space”

One cannot build roads, flyovers and bridges without an equal emphasis on creation of adequate parking space, especially when the car population is estimated at 15 million (2010 figures). A question that arises is whether the state should provide public space for an individual’s private property. While parking is not a right, every citizen should be entitled to public space in the country. But how can the state afford to allocate its limited public space to every citizen? The answer to this lies in promoting the use of public transport by the state to restrict the use of private vehicles. Also an easy way to restrict use of private vehicles is by charging high parking fees for use of public space.

Indian cities are ranked lowest by the Global Colliers International Parking Rate Survey 2010. According to the survey, Chennai ($ 0.96-Rs 43.42) is the cheapest city for parking in the world with less than a dollar for parking per day, compared to New York and Hong Kong which have excessively priced parking, topping the list of the most expensive list to park your vehicle at $31.1 (Rs 1407.09) and $ 24.83 (Rs 1,124.20) per day respectively as per the Survey.

A recent Delhi High Court decision[2], while approving the parking policy framed by the Environmental Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) emphasized that “private vehicle owners must pay the cost of the use of public spaces required for parking” and further that “parking policy cannot be based on the increase of parking supply, but on restricting the availability of parking in the city and strict enforcement to ensure against misuse”. This decision paves way for the urban planners to increase parking charges in cities. And that fare so collected can be used in upgrading the public transport so as to promote the same.

Chennai has only 20 tow trucks to monitor the city’s 34 lakh vehicles. Once parking charges generate adequate revenue, it can be used to set up a fund that finances enforcement measures.

In conclusion, a sole policy should be formulated for managing parking facilities in India. This policy should have a long term vision and should be designed after taking into account the various systems devised by urban planners around the globe.

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[1] According to Volume 3 Chapter 1 Structure of Chennai Developed by CMDA, George Town and its extension southwards into Anna Salai together constitute the central business district of the City

[2] Khan Market Traders Association v. Union of India, 2011

References

http://indiancases.com/display-articles.php?articleid=6
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/chennai/no-end-parking-woes-931
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article2570020.ece

Submitted by Iyal Pari, a law student, currently interning with Transparent Chennai

On July 26^th, Tuesday Transparent Chennai co-hosted a workshop with ITDP (Institute for Transport and Development Policy) on solving parking issues in Chennai. Our key speaker, Michael Kodransky, is a traffic reduction program manager at ITDP in New York and has developed parking solutions in several countries. Attendees included personnel from CIVITAS (an organisation from Kochi), Chennai City connect, representatives from RWAs in Annanagar and Nanganallur, scholars, retired government officials and other concerned professionals. This post is a summary of the discussions that took place during the workshop.

Chennai has seen a staggering 295% growth in vehicle registration in the last decade which has increased the tally of cars to 5.5 lakh and two wheelers to about 25 lakh.[1] As the roads have not increased in proportion to the number of vehicles, there is congestion during peak hours and the mobility speed has also reduced to less 10km/h in the city core. It is estimated that Chennai has only about 3100 cars on street parking space in the city.

The question is do we really need to provide vehicular parking at the cost of important public space, and if so at what price? The following topics were discussed at length:

• Do the people consider parking as a public good and expect the government to provide it?
• Reliability and service delivery of public transport.
• Enforcement and guidance to park in correct manner.
• Who do we hold accountable for parking?
• Is the parking fee collected sufficient and are there incentives to discourage usage of private vehicles?

Possible solutions and answers:

The traffic police is responsible for demarcating the on street parking space (yellow lines) while the corporation and highways department for allocating and permitting street parking areas. The corporation tenders out the collection of parking fee to contractors and hence has little or no control over the pricing of parking space which should be in consonance with the rental paid in that area. With the UMTA (Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority) bill gaining strength, it will integrate transport solutions and encourage people to use public transport by creating parking facilities near the public transport terminals.

Policy reforms that lead to better parking solutions and also a change in people’s perceptions about the use of private vehicles are much needed.

Following are some cities that have adopted some innovative techniques for solving their parking troubles and for having a better and more car-free city:

Copenhagen: experienced a complete turnaround from being a car driven city to a cycle driven city. It boasts of having the world’s longest pedestrian street which is vibrant throughout the year. The city realised that all their trips begin and end at the parking lot and it was not be possible to provide the requisite number of parking space in the future.

Zurich: Imposed a regulation to make the centre of the city auto free. The parking capacity regulation is based on the proximity of site to the transit facility, thus optimising road capacity. It also has a pricing mechanism based on the idea that the longer a car occupies a parking lot, the greater is the burden on the city

London: had its first parking meter installed at Grosvenor square near American Embassy in 1956. Revenues from charging parking fee are used for issuing freedom passes (free public transport) for elderly and disabled. A Borough of Camden in greater London has linked parking permits to CO2 emissions to ensure a greener city.

Amsterdam: Has a scheme under which the resident pays a price to avail on street parking space which is to be used only by his car. They also have a strict enforcement for illegal parking through a scan car technique which is 98% accurate. One can also pay parking fees by their mobile phones or internet.

Stockholm: In Stockholm the developers contacts the parking facilitator to avail parking space off site to satisfy parking regulation. The drivers pay a small monthly subscription fee and a small transaction fee every time they park.

Paris: evolved a parking standards based on availability of transit to encourage developers to maximise built up space by removal of minimum parking requirements in those areas. So if the site falls within 500m from a metro station the building may not require giving any parking at all. It has also converted several parking spaces to accommodate bicycle sharing points and have put bollards to restrict encroachment of pedestrian sidewalks.

Even a car dependent country like USA has eliminated parking spaces and pedestrianised areas in Boulder, Colorado and Times Square New York. The most effective way to reduce private vehicular dependency as said by Hermann Knoflacher, a professor in the University of Vienna, is by ensuring that “walking distance to a parking place is at least as long as the walking distance to get public transport.”

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[1] http://www.tn.gov.in/sta/stat1.html

Roshan Toshniwal

After the public meeting on June 4th, we have been in discussion with the Chennai Traffic Police, Cityconnect and a couple of civic activists who have formed a traffic and transportation forum (TTF) to provide suggestive measures to ease traffic congestion at busy junctions in the city. The Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Mr. Sanjay Arora has been open to suggestions and has promised to experiment with the working solutions we provide, on a temporary basis.

We have initiated this exercise with the Vijaynagar junction at Velachery which has been identified as a nightmare for pedestrians to cross with vehicles coming from all directions. The Vijaynagar bus stand lies at a crossroad connecting Taramani, the Velachery Bye Pass road or 100 feet road and the Velachery main road. The presence of 3 big eateries (Mc Donald, KFC and Adayar Ananda Bhavan) and offices like Sutherland attracts congestion at this junction. The MRTS station and the DAV school are also in close vicinity to this junction. There is also a multiplex cum shopping mall being built on the main road abutting a 30 feet road which may attract more traffic.

These commercial establishments do not have adequate parking (not even as per norms which is 1 car and 1 two wheeler parking space for every 50 meter sq metres within the corporation area ) which forces people to park on the main roads and bye lanes, which then spills over onto the main road, choking traffic.

Although the road is 200 feet wide, there are only 4 vehicular lanes and the limited footpaths are encroached by shops on both sides of the road. There are open drains in what was to be a service lane and the parts where it is covered is being used for parking vehicles. The road has no mid block crossing/ refuge or a pedestrian grade separator and as the median is a three feet high concrete barricade, the pedestrian risks his life to cross over to the other side.

In the recent past, parts of this road were acquired by the highway department for road widening and apart from Sutherland and some electric poles, these are the only premises that still stand in the way. Apparently there is also a proposal for constructing a flyover in a lane that is opposite Sutherland, to ease pressure from the Vijaynagar junction. Some officials claim that the Sutherland premises have a part of the OSR (Open Space Reservation) land which the company has been reluctant to hand over.

Evolving a solution
So on 29th June the TTF called concerned officials from the Corporation of Chennai (Zone 10), the Electricity Board, both traffic and law and order policemen in-charge of the area, traffic expert Prof. KP Subramanium, officer in-charge of building the flyover at the junction, retired officials, area representative of MTC, an active resident from the area and us.
The representative from the Highway department suggested formulating a traffic and transportation committee at a state or city level which will focus on the traffic congestion and create holistic solutions. The formulation of the committee requires brainstorming sessions from all concerned departments and the civic society on how to deal with the traffic bottleneck and facilitate faster movement.

The junction needs to be redesigned based on the traffic survey and also take the surrounding land-use into account . The corporation will need to work with an iron hand when giving building permissions and ensuring that parking norms are followed. The buses parked opposite the Vijaynagar bus stand will also need to park away from the junction.
Please send us your suggestions so that it can also be incorporated.

- Roshan Toshniwal

1. An article in Hindu looks at Chennai’s increasing traffic woes and the response to this problem:

http://hindu.com/2010/12/21/stories/2010122161690200.htm

Building more and more flyovers can help ease traffic congestion only in the short run. Various studies have shown that flyovers actually increase congestion and the total number of  automobile trips made per day, in the longer run.

2. As new bicycle lanes appear in New York city, people complain about the loss of parking space and constricted traffic:

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/12/21/are-new-yorks-bike-lanes-working?ref=opinion

3. Worried about the increasing air pollution, France looks at alternate ways of reducing it: boat transport, eco friendly bicycles, strengthening public transport:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/156874.html

4. Government plans to restrict private cars in Dhaka to reduce traffic jam:

http://dhaka-rickshaw.blogspot.com/2009/09/call-for-restriction-on-growth-of.html

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Why are we the only ones looking at building flyovers at a time when the rest of the world is propagating environment and people friendly solutions? Why would we go for solutions that have actually failed in the past?

Somya Sethuraman

Certain things that I noticed about Chennai in the three years that I spent here are quite peculiar. First, busy roads are suddenly closed down, unannounced, for renovation or for a ‘VIP’ visit. All cities in India experience this, but in Chennai it happens too often to go unnoticed. Second, there is no clear definition of a ‘main road’. Buses, trucks and all kinds of other heavy motor vehicles seem to pass the narrowest of all roads with houses on either side. What is more shocking is to see kids playing on these roads, completely oblivious of the traffic around them. Third, this city doesn’t seem to invest in pukka roads. So one fine day when it rains, the road disappears and all that is left of it is potholes. In spite of all this, I love this city because of its beaches, its simplicity and its reasonably good public transport system.

One evening, after a tiring day at work, I decided to walk back home from Teynampet to Gandhinagar in Adyar. Starting at around 7pm, I expected to be home in an hour’s time. Teynampet to Gandhinagar should be around 6-7kms but the benefit of walking is that you can walk through one-ways, traffic jams and even blocked roads. So for all you know, walking back could in fact be faster than traveling in a motor vehicle within the city! While not much seems to be in place for the pedestrians in this city, it is made worse by the pedestrians themselves who mostly jaywalk. The end result is chaos, with sudden brakes being applied by vehicles and long leaps of narrow escapes made by pedestrians from one side of the road to the other. Since I had left office at the peak hour when most are travelling back home, I knew it was not exactly going to be a pleasant walk. The first leg of my walk was from my office to Nandanam. What really upset me during the walk were the uneven and discontinuous footpaths. Every commercial building/housing complex on my way seemed to have created their own walkway outside their premises, of different widths. Added to this, there were two wheelers parked on the footpath, which meant that I had to hop down to the main road in the middle of the traffic and then hop back to a new footpath of a different width and height. Finally, the foul smell during the walk just killed the fun. Men seem to urinate anywhere they feel like, as if all the walls and footpaths in Chennai are nothing but urinals. Obviously, the experience was far from pleasant.

But as I turned from Nandanam to Kotturpuram, I was pleasantly surprised. The area was well-lit, had a really nice park to my left, and the bridge built over Adyar river was constructed keeping in mind the pedestrians. However, expecting cycle lanes is a bit too idealistic here. I decided to walk via the Kotturpuram market which was very crowded, with traffic running in all directions. No sign of any footpath/signal on the way. And worse, street hawkers had encroached upon both the pedestrian space and even blocked half of the road. What I found even more astonishing is a temple right in the middle of the road! So devotees stand outside the temple during ‘archanai’, fully immersed, in the midst of the traffic and noise! Yet, walking from Kotturpuram to Gandhinagar was a fairly nice experience, and since the beach is closer to Adyar, the cool breeze calmed me down. It was 9pm when I reached home, thanks to the coffee break that I had taken at Nandanam CCD. Luckily, I used the washroom in CCD because all along my walk back home I could spot only one public convenience at Kotturpuram signal and that also was stinking from a distance of 200m. Only men who feel free to urinate anywhere in the city seemed to be using the public toilet. I realized I should have just walked past Kotturpuram and hit the IIT flyover to reach Gandhinagar rather than the stupid shortcut through the market. Even though the walk would have been longer, the roads are well lit and pedestrian friendly, at least till you hit the crossing at IIT flyover, a place where accidents occur on a daily basis.

When I got back home, I hurriedly went in for a shower because my eyes were burning and my feet felt extremely dirty. I made up my mind to wear walking shoes and fully covered clothes for my future walkathons.

Contributed by – Somya Sethuraman, a Researcher for the Transparent Chennai team of the Centre for Development Finance, IFMR