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Best solution to namma trafficu!
Written By mcadambi - 3 February, 2010
Bangalore Analysis Transportation Private transport car
Recently the Govt of India has constituted the Kirit Parikh Committee to deregulate prices of petroleum products (diesel, petrol, kerosene, LPG).
Due to the populism of our mai-baap sarkar, it is broke! And it can no longer afford to subsidise "common man's fuel". Actually, 70% of the indians use firewood and cow dung. The subsidies largely go to the urban middle classes, who hardly form about 25% of the population.
Simple economics says that price signals are essential for allocation of scarce resources. And higher the prices on petrol and diesel, there will be more force to step up effeciency of their use (in terms of research and development in increased mileage of automobiles) and encouraging use of renewable sources (solar pv could replace diesel gen sets for example).
Also, for our namma bengaluru, increased prices of petrol and diesel will make owning a two wheeler or four wheeler costly (actually cars will feel the pinch more).
Deregulation of petroleum prices is also essential, because if deregulated, the BBMP can charge a cess on all petrol and diesel sold in Bengaluru to fund our road infrastructure.
The Full Report can be accessed here: http://petroleum.nic.in/reportprice.pdf
COMMENTS
idontspam - 28 December, 2010 - 08:41
You know interestingly where the story lies?
Here
"In 2009, in part to combat the global economic collapse, the national government halved the sales tax on the small-engine cars that most first-time buyers choose, and it spent billions on subsidies for rural car purchases and upgrades to new vehicles" .
and here
"Part of the problem is poor planning. Curiously, a city of more than six million drivers has virtually no stop signs, turning intersections into playing fields for games of vehicular chicken. Freeway entrance ramps appear just before exit ramps, guaranteeing multilane disarray as cars seeking to get off try to punch through lines of cars seeking to get on."
Of course congestion charging will not be approved by the communist party because illogical ideology. But nevertheless the story for us is in the 2nd part. That of trying to grow without basics of traffic engineering in place. If we let BBMP plan our streets we will be in a much bigger mess than China is in.
Bangalore incidentaly is far behind most Indian cities in enabling sustainable transportation. All metros including Hyd have commuter rail for decongestion, Delhi & Pune have Bike share already operational for last mile, Delhi, Ahmedabad & Indore already have BRTS for Bus priority.
rackstar - 28 December, 2010 - 09:16
petrol and diesel are already taxed heavily both by state and central govt. actual cost of petrol is around 25 rs, we are paying 57 rs. Diesel also costs 25 rs without taxes. what subsidy the blog author mcadambi talking about? I have noticed none of the commenters also unaware of this.
idontspam - 28 December, 2010 - 09:02
what subsidy are you talking about?
The article is talking about China. You are on the wrong planet.
rackstar - 29 December, 2010 - 07:00
@idontspam, actually chidambaram reduced tax in 2006 in india too like china "In 2009, in part to combat the global economic collapse, the national government halved the sales tax on the small-engine cars".
small cars defined as less than 4m length and petrol engine less than 1200cc or diesel engine less than 1500cc attract 10% tax compared to previous 22% excise tax on all cars that were prevalent before. Other big cars still attract 22% excise duty. So companies launched lot of small cars in recent years.
my previous comment question was for blog author. i fixed that comment.
murali772 - 28 December, 2010 - 08:12
When the number reaches 6.5 million, traffic researchers calculate, Beijing’s streets will be fully saturated. Some would say they already are: in June, a survey by IBM of 20 global metropolises rated Beijing traffic as tied for the world’s worst, along with Mexico City.
“We have built many flyovers and expressways,” said Zhao Jie, a transportation expert at the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design. “We have spent quite a lot of money on subways and bus lines, and Beijing probably has the lowest bus fares in the world. But the stimuli to car ownership are even more powerful.”
Duan Haizhu, a 26-year-old taxi driver, put it more elegantly during a recent crosstown crawl in his orange-and-brown Hyundai. “The speed of building roads is nowhere near the speed of people buying cars,” he said. “And people won’t stop buying cars.”
For the full report in the Deccan Herald, click here
Isn't the problem staring us in the face too? Do we have to re-invent the wheel, all over again?
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