The Hindu Business Line : Traffic management

Three weeks ago, I was in New Delhi as member of a high-level business delegation accompanying the German Chancellor, Dr Angela Merkel. The delegation members were driving in a charter bus along Rajpath at 8.30 a.m. to attend the Guard of Honour for the German Chancellor at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The bus drove past three red lights in a row, without even slowing down, let alone stopping!

The Germans were shocked, stunned, bewildered. I was awfully embarrassed. I recall it was Nani Palkhivala who quipped, on one occasion, “you can judge a nation by looking at the way cars are parked and how the traffic moves.”

It is astounding that over 2,500 years ago, when most of the world was living in little human settlements, the Indus Valley civilisation had well-planned cities, paved roads, excellent traffic management and parking systems and above all, a disciplined populace.

Traffic Tickets Are Big Business

Let us take a look at what is happening in Europe. A profit point for City Councils, Police and authorities is that almost every street, main road or, highway in the European continent is monitored with intelligent CCTV cameras that record vehicles that ignore red lights, measure the average velocity, spot seat-belt offenders, tote up the number of cars and compute the distance between cars. Europeans have shelled out billions of euros for such systems, resulting in fewer traffic jams and a reduction in the associated pollution.

Traffic Laws and illegal Parking

In Europe, there are fierce road traffic laws and these nations have very tough operations against illegal parking. In Berlin, for instance, a 1,000-strong army of parking wardens step out on to the streets every morning. They can impose fines of 50 euros to 450 euros and dock three points from a driver’s licence for parking in a restricted zone. Motorbikes are also targeted.

European parking wardens are trained to adopt a zero-tolerance attitude to even the shortest roadside stop. Several European countries have wardens armed with digital cameras and Internet-enabled positioning units for calling in tow-trucks and laptops! European motorists paid over 15 billion euros in parking charges in 2006.

In Amsterdam, which has strict parking laws, illegal parking comes with expensive wheel clamps and more expensive towing away. Cost of implementation is minimal. Most cities basically make up not only the cost of enforcing these laws but also generate profits through parking fines. The city council and parking police are departments making a profit!

The rule of law

In most of Western Europe, Courts are almost perfect. There is broad recognition that “justice delayed is justice denied.” Overly delayed court trials are themselves a violation of the European Convention, which provides that “everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time.” This provision applies to both civil and criminal trials — from petty parking penalties to grave felony.

Persons with Disabilities

For the physically challenged, parking permits are issued by the authorities in their jurisdiction. Those holding a valid ‘disabled parking permit’ may travel in any of the 27 European member States and use their home parking permit to enjoy the same benefits as citizens from these countries.

Reduced parking fee for low-emission vehicles

In Graz, Austria, low emission vehicles get a 30 per cent reduction in parking fees. The differentiated parking system encourages more citizens to use vehicles with less environmental impact. In order to get the reduction, the vehicle has to be classified as low polluting according to certain EU regulations (EURO IV) and has to emit less than 140 g (130 g for diesel vehicles) CO{-2} per driven km.

In Stockholm, Sweden, the authorities have introduced reduced parking fees for biogas, ethanol, electric and electric hybrid vehicle. The interest is big and this incentive is to support the shift to clean vehicles in the inner city.

In Pecs, Hungary, a new parking fee system with zones has cut down traffic in the city centre.

Professional Parking Service

Appropriate recruitment, remuneration and training ensures a professional parking service throughout the Continent. The EU’s statutory guidance requires all councils and contractors to pursue recruitment and training practices that are set out in detail to ensure a professional approach to parking enforcement work. Operational staff are well informed about the regulations they enforce and have the necessary expertise and communication skills.

Technology for Parking

In most European towns and cities, ‘real-time’ information is provided to drivers seeking to park. This is mainly through the use of ‘variable message signs’ and local FM radio traffic bulletins. These methods are valuable because they deliver prior information about the status of car parks, and divert and re-direct traffic at an early stage.

In Germany, it is common to use the Internet as a source of information about parking facilities, and to reserve a parking place at destinations such as airports.

In Europe, technological progress also assists the ‘back-office’ operation of local authority parking departments where penalty charge notices and representations are processed.

City councils have state-of-the-art IT solutions for processing tickets to promote both efficiency and customer service.

Bitter home truths

An anecdote has it that only 10 per cent of the vehicles in our capital city are aware of their destination. The rest keep looking for a parking lot, or are busy making traffic jams. Regrettably, that’s the bitter truth about most Indian cities.

For decades, Indian drivers in search of a parking space have enjoyed an environment of extraordinary leniency.

Roads are allowed to be used for ‘gratis’ parking, thereby blocking free flow of traffic. We need a national parking and traffic management policy.

This could pave the way for a multi-billion area of business in park-houses, parking meters, monitoring cameras, back-offices for processing and administration and employment opportunities to at least five million people, in India.

The author is former Europe Director, CII, and lives in Cologne, Germany. Feedback may be sent to mohan.murti@t-online.de

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