Congestion Pricing: ‘Surge’ pricing Mumbai traffici

The total number of vehicles registered in Mumbai has gone up considerably in the last decade.
No wonder then that we Mumbaikars are always running behind schedule for our appointments,
interviews, exams or kid’s birthday parties. We pay a daily price of Mumbai traffic through hours
lost, sitting at the car steering or in the passenger seat, wondering if we can make it across the
traffic signal at least this time. How can we put a price on sacrificing key moments of our lives to
traffic? Do we keep on paying this huge sum or is there a way to monetize hours spent on traffic
losses, perhaps improving Mumbai’s traffic efficiency at the same time?
The answer might lie in congestion pricing. The Mumbai metropolitan region has for decades used
tollways as a means to pay for transit infrastructure like bridges and tunnels. However, congestion
pricing levies taxes or charges on private vehicles that enter specific high occupancy areas during
peak hour traffic. The charges serve dual purpose: to keep a check on private vehicle on busy city
streets, thereby increasing public transit ridership and to provide much needed capital to revitalize
public transit infrastructure. In cities where a congestion tax is automatically collected, this usually
requires initial investments in laying out the tax collection posts and the RFID and GPS equipment
to seamlessly integrate congestion pricing with the traffic network, causing no extra time losses to
citizens.
Today, local authorities all over the globe, from London to New York have begun to implement a
congestion tax. Congestion tax or toll is often implemented on private cars and vehicles to
encourage more users to use public transit and reduce the number of private cars on roads during
peak hours. Different cities implement variations of this broader concept, to varying success. The
major examples are of Singapore, London and various cities in the European Union, like
Stockholm. Recently, New York has approved a congestion pricing surcharge on certain
Manhattan streets.
Each of these cities has a different method of congestion pricing. Singapore, long hailed as a model
for urban growth, has since decades used restrictive measures to control vehicle registrations. It
further tackles rush hour traffic jams through a network of gantries which automatically deduct a
small fee every time a car passes under it, from Monday to Saturday expect on Public holidays.
The cars are equipped with chip equipment. In effect in Singapore since the 1970s, congestion
pricing has evolved to meet the growing population and vehicular needs of this nation state.
London, on the other hand, attempts to curtail traffic in a 20 square kilometer congestion zone in
the city center. It charges a flat fee of $16 (roughly Rs 1000) to enter this zone between 7 am and
6 pm on workdays and levies an additional fee on older, more polluting vehicles. In place since
2003, the congestion tax was opposed by car owners, residents and trade organizations. However,
London’s political leadership persisted and within a year, the tax showed positive results. Traffic
reduced, average speed of vehicles in the zone increased and pollution levels reduced by
considerable amounts.
The saga of congestion pricing in New York City began in 2008, when then mayor Bloomberg put
up a proposal to introduce congestion pricing in the city. This proposal proved to be politically
unfavorable and was rejected by its representatives. The idea gained traction again in recent years,
as New Yorkers look toward congestion pricing as an answer to mitigate its ailing subway and bus
system. Once the congestion pricing system comes into effect, through the taxes obtained, the
Metropolitan transit Authority (MTA) hopes to further raise billions of dollars in metropolitan
bonds to resurrect the ailing subway system.
In Mumbai, using monies obtained from implementing a congestion tax on private vehicles to fund
improvements in the public transport system seems like a distant dream. However, this may be the
last hope for Mumbai, to breathe life into the BEST bus system, which has been plagued by
problems in recent years. Recently, the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority
(MMRDA) invited key stakeholders to deliberate about how the Mumbai Metro region could
implement a congestion tax.
Given the decentralized nature of governance in Mumbai’s urban agencies, there are several
hurdles to overcome before Mumbai is successful in implementing a congestion tax. The presence
of several large and small metros within the Mumbai Metro Region – Mumbai, Thane, Navi
Mumbai, Panvel, Dombivili, Kalyan, Virar and Vasai to name a few creates issues of locating the
congestion zones. Presence of various metro and urban authorities such as the MCGM, TMC,
MMRDA, MSRDC having conflicting sectoral, administrative and physical boundaries creates
issues of administration and implementation. While Singapore has a strong central administration
and a dynamic system of congestion pricing along different routes at different times of the day,
London’s congestion pricing system has a fixed rate, fixed boundary of implementation. Both these
approaches suit the political climate of the respective cities.
The political will to confer, arrive at a consensus and later implement the policy of congestion
pricing is questionable in the MMR, with different municipal zones having different political
parties at the helm. Whatever the policy Mumbai (if and when) decides to adopt and implement,
we have to ensure that the outcome has a buy-in from all stakeholders – private car and vehicle
owners, residents, taxi and auto rickshaw unions and ride hailing companies. Else subverting the
policy and adopting ‘jugaad’ techniques to circumvent the toll would make the tax and subsequent
decongestion, pollution reduction outcomes meaningless.
Seeing as cities like New York and London have spent at least a decade fine tuning before
implementing their congestion pricing policies, it remains to be seen how long would Mumbai
take from now till we actually see the congestion pricing policy in effect and delivering results.
Considering that this city considers time is money, it shouldn’t take too long, right?

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This is Part 1 on series of discussion congestion pricing in Mumbai. Part 2 talks about possible congestion pricing
systems given Mumbai’s unique urban framework.