Environmental Economics

3rd Periodical Assignment

Submitted by:- Debolina Samanta
Roll Number - AE1812
Submitted to:- Prof Kailas Thaware

TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN PUNE

In modern life we have to face with many problems one of which is traffic congestion
becoming more serious day after day.Traffic Congestion or traffic jams is one of the
major issues experienced in most metropolitan cities in the developing nations. Traffic
Congestion involves queuing, slower speeds and increased travel time which wastes
energy of the commuters and causes stress, thus reducing the overall productivity and
imposing an intangible cost on the society. It also affects various other factors like
environment, usage of natural resources, quality of life and safety of commuters as
well as pedestrians, directly and/or indirectly.The major cause leading to traffic
congestion is the high number of vehicle which was caused by the population and the
development of economy.It occurs when traffic demand exceeds the operational
capacity, when vehicle got breakdown, etc of the roadway.
INTRODUCTION
Pune is a developed city and densely populated. Traffic jams is a major transport
problem in Pune. Due to traffic jams, there is possibility of accidents because of poor
traffic management.The traffic problem in city like Pune is increasing with every
passing day. Whenever we talk about Pune’s traffic we hear words like disgusting,
chaotic,unsafe, infamous, etc. The fatality rate is one person a day or 10 to 15 a week
which is very high. Every time we cross the city we find ourselves standing frustrated
in traffic jams and criticizing the government. Some of the major issues which create
this traffic problems are no proper planning, violation of the rules & regulation, bad
construction and improper management. Major traffic issues are noticed on the roads
connecting outskirt areas to the Metro cities. Out of which the major concern is traffic
jams that happens due to non-recurring highway incidents, such as a crash or road
works, which may reduce the road's capacity below normal levels. Due to the
increasing population in Pune City, people have started moving towards the outskirts
for having a better and peaceful life. This situation has compelled us to think about
increasing the living standards and providing better infrastructure in these areas. The
major state highways which connect Pune to Mumbai & Bangalore and the
development around it is increasing with every passing day which increases the traffic
intensity which ultimately leads to the traffic jams and other traffic related problems.
Thus, it is necessary to look on this area of Pune city where development is at its
peak.
Pune city is a well-developed and popularly known for its education as many
students come from different cities and many young people come for jobs because of
booming IT companies.In Pune there are 811 colleges and educational institution and
9 state and private universities which is second largest in India. Pune is known for its
education and the hub of industries due to which the population has increased rapidly
in past few years.Due to this city has become densely populated. Today the Pune’s
population is around 35 lakh. Registered vehicles are 36.2 lakh which is exceeding the
human population. This consensus was conducted by the RTO on 31st March 2018
with an increase of over 2.80 lakh vehicles taking previous year’s figures from 33.37
lakh (2016-17) to 36.27 lakh (2017-18).The fatality rate is one person a day or 10 to
15 a week which is very high because of unorganized, undisciplined traffic. Usually
city locations where roads or infrastructure is under-construction are most jam-
packed. Even areas near commercial zones of office areas are jammed with traffic
especially during working hours when everybody are in rush to reach office on time.
Mainly Satara Road, Karve Road, Pune-Nagar Road, Ganeshkhind, Swargate,
Hinjewadi are facing major problem of daily traffic jam.

Table 1:- No of registered vehicle in Pune

Category No of registered vehicle
Four wheeler 6,45,683
Two wheeler 2,73,147
Auto rickshaws 53,225
Taxis 28,344
Truck,Bus,Tempo 38,598
Source:- Regional Traffic Office MH-12

Table 2:- No of Two-Wheeler vehicles in Pune

Two-Wheeler Number of vehicles
Motor cycles 1750171
 Scooters 523698
Moped 195691
Total 2469560
Source:- Regional Traffic Office MH-12

Graph 1:- No of vehicles with two-wheeler

No of vehicles with two-

wheeler
2000000
No of vehicles
1800000
1600000
1400000
1200000
1000000
800000
600000
400000
200000
0
Motor Scooters Moped
cycles

Two-wheeler

The number of two wheeler used by people here is more than any other city in the
country.The growth of vehicles in Pune has assumed extraordinary proportions,
especially in the case of two wheeler. So far there are about 15.6 lakh vehicles
registered in PMC and PCMC area out of which more than 12 lakh vehicles are two
wheeler.

Table 3:- No of vehicle count besides two-wheeler in Pune

Category No of vehicles
Cars 537613
Jeeps 41850
Luxury/Tourist cabs 21158
Auto-rickshaws 49727
Delivery Van(4
wheeler) 42467
Delivery Van(3
wheeler) 31920
School Buses 2299
Private Service
Vehicles 1282
Ambulances 1182
Tractors 24289
Trucks and Lorries 33408
Source:- Regional Traffic Office MH-12
Graph 2:- No of vehicle count besides two-wheeler in Pune
 No of vehicle
600000
500000
400000
300000
200000
Axis Title

100000
0
rs ep
s bs s s) rs
) es es es or
s es
Ca Je ca haw eler ele us hicl a nc ct orri
t s B l a L
ris ck he he ol Ve bu Tr d
T ou o -ri 4
w
3
w
cho i ce
A m an
/ t ( ( S rv s
ry Au n n
Se ck
xu y Va y Va e T ru
u t
L er er a
e liv e liv P riv
D D
Axis Title

During the peak hours i.e. 09:00 to 11:00 in the morning and 6:00 to 8:00 in the
evening traffic situation gets worst and chaotic where most of the schools and
colleges are located especially in Peth areas having narrow roads and lane, IT offices
located in Hinjewadi and Kharadi and Industrial Zone at Bhosari but nowadays you
can find anytime of the day as well. It is found that on Friday numbers of vehicles are
more than Thursday from 8am to 9am.In morning hours traffic density is more and
afterwards it is decreased and remained constant up to 4pm. After 4pm again traffic
density is increased and is reached around 3000. 6035 heavy vehicles are passing
through the junction in a single day i.e. Friday.There are lot of commuters using
private cabs and auto's as well (majority of them are working professionals from
outside Pune, ladies using auto's, some localities who have cab pick up and drop
service from their offices).
The city traffic police issued a notification on Wednesday banning
movement of heavy vehicles on four important roads falling under Chatuhshrungi
traffic division between 9 am and noon, and 5 pm to 8 pm.According to the
notification, which has been approved by the state home department, the four roads
are Pashan Road (Shivaji Chowk to Pune University), Baner Road (Baner Phata to
Pune University), Aundh Road (Bremen Chowk to Pune University), and Range Hills
Road (Symphony Circle to Ganeshkhind Road).
Heavy unseasonal rains lashed the city and suburbs, inundating low-
lying areas and throwing traffic out of gear.More than the rain, poor storm water
drainage network was responsible for water-logging, which led to massive traffic
jams.
Blocked traffic may interfere with the passage of emergency vehicles going to
their destinations where they are urgently needed and the worst cases can be seen with
ambulances.

METHODOLOGY
Survey and questionnaire method has been done in this paper.Questionnaire included
subjective as well as objective question.This questionnaire method is done with the
help of Google Form being distributed among my relatives and friends in
Pune.Subjective questions aimed at understanding reason behind people’s choice
while answering objective questions.

DATA ANALYSIS

1. “Which mode of transport do you use while travelling within 1-2 kilometers
of distance?”
Table 4:- Mode of transport
Mode of transport No of respondents
Use of two wheeler 72
Use of four wheeler 23
Walking 18
Cycle 10
Bus 27
Total 150

Graph 3:- Graph showing mode of transport

Mode of transport

18%
Use of two
wheelers
Use of four
wheelers
7%
48% Walking
Cycle
12% Bus

15%

Responses indicate that most number of people use two wheelers and few people use
wheelers, while few prefer walking as a mode of transport.Few people use cycles or
bus.Few respondents also stated that during emergency they use two wheelers as
public transport is very bad in Pune but otherwise they prefer walking only. On the
other hand some respondents stated that the rising number of vehicles on road is
directly linked with liberal vehicle market in Pune.

2. “How many vehicles do your family own?”

Table 5:- No of vehicles per Family

 No of Total
respondent number of
Types of vehicle Numbers s vehicles
Cycle 2 42 84
Two Wheelers 2 78 156
Four Wheeler 1 30 30
Total 150 270
Graph 4:- Graph showing total number of vehicle a family owns

Total number of vehicles

Total number of vehicles

156

84

30

Cycle Two Wheelers Four Wheeler

The above graph and table indicates that every family has 2 numbers of two wheelers
as well as cycles.It means heavy amount of vehicles flooded on the roads which
therefore lead to traffic congestion. This number are increasing day by day. Because
every young college going child is demanding a scooty or moped from their parents.

3. “How many members in your family having a driving license?”

Table 6:- No of licenses per Family

No of Total number of
Types of vehicle Numbers respondents licenses
Two Wheelers 2 85 170
Four Wheeler 1 65 65
Total 150 235

Graph 5:- Graph showing Total number of licenses in each family

 Total number of licenses

Four Wheeler 65

Total number of
licenses

Two Wheelers 170

0 40 80 0 0
12 16
It is seen that a family having 1 vehicle but 4 licensed members is highly followed by
families having 2/3 licensed members but only 1 vehicle. However families having 2
vehicles and 2 licensed members is high as 60.13% while 3 vehicles and 3 licensed
members is high as 53.13%.On the other hand families having 4 vehicles and 4
licensed members is high as 57.89%.There are some families with 4 licensed
members and 5 vehicles and they are as high as 57.14%.This indicates a general trend
that in every family almost ever licensed member needs 1 vehicle. Also in big
families which have 3 to 5 licensed members there is a two wheeler for ach one and at
least 1 car for a family.

4. “How often do you find traffic constable or warden managing traffic on busy
streets?”

Table 7:- Response of traffic constable or warden for managing the traffic on stree t
Response No of respondents
Always 17
Often 68
Rarely 43
Never 22
Total 150

Graph 6:- Graph showing responses of traffic constable managing the traffic

No of respondents

15% 11%
Always
Often
Rarely
Never
29%
45%

The most important factor with traffic is Traffic Police.While finding this it is seen
that how this traffic system works in Pune.From the above table and graph it is seen
that almost 4.55% were of the opinion that traffic police always seen managing the
traffic ,while almost double of them did not get chance to see such thing.45.64%
responded often they had seen while 44.55% has responded that rarely that had seen
such management in traffic system in Pune city.

5. “How would you rate city public transport service of PMPML(Pune

Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited,Pune public transport service
provider)?”

Table 8:- Rating of the service by PMPML

Response No of respondents
Best 7
Good 24
Satisfactory 18
Needs Improvement 61
Worst 40
Total 150

Graph 7:- Graph showing rating of the service by PMPML

Chart Title
5%

27% 16% Best

Good
Satisfactory
Needs Improvement
12%
Worst

41%

When asked to rate the PMPML service in Pune city,40% of the respondent said that
it definitely needs little improvement.Around 27% of the respondent find it worst
where on the other hand only 12% find its satisfactory.Only 16% find it good and 4
find it best .From the above table and graph it is seen that the PMPML service is very
poor in Pune city.

6. “What do you feel is the main reason for traffic congestion?”

Table 9:- Reason for traffic congestion

 Reasons No of respondents
Road condition 23
Undisciplined parking 37
Undisciplined driving 37
Excessive number of vehicles on road 11
Narrow road 8
Bad planning 34
Total 150

Graph 8:- Graph showing different reasons for traffic congestion

Chart Title
40
30
20
10
0
Road condi- Undisciplined Undisciplined Excessive Narrow road Bad planning
tion parking driving number of
vehicles on
road
People identified all the above reasons for traffic congestion as shown in the above
table and graph.They stated that Peth area, Mandai, Tilak road is the main managed
area in the city which is followed by Swargate, Kothrud, Sinhagad road while
Senapati Bapat road, FC road,Hinjewadi,JM road are comparatively well
managed.Kothrud faces the problem of narrow road while Sinhagad road is always
burdened with numerous vehicles travelling.

7. “Do you think BRT(Bus Rapid Transit) has utility?”

Table 10:- Utility of BRT

Response No of respondents
No 102
Yes 48
Total 150
Graph 9:- Graph showing the response for the utility of BRT
No of respondents
No
32% Yes
68%

Around 68% of the respondent do not agree that BRT has any utility. Though it is an
important transport for the Puneites, it is not properly managed.The BRT are rarely on
time.Frequency of buses is quite poor in remote areas of the city.However 32% of the
respondent agreed to the fact that travelling by BRT is much cheaper than travelling
by autos.
8. “Do you think proposed Metros in Pune city is a solution for traffic
congestion?”

Table 11:- Utility of Metro

Response No of respondents
No 102
Yes 48
Total 150

Graph 10:- Graph showing the utility of metro in the city

No of respondents

32% No
Yes

68%

More than 50% of the respondent stated that construction of metro will not help the
city to overcome the problem of traffic congestion while on the other hand 32% of
them stated that implementing metro would not help in any way the city to overcome
traffic problem.

FINDING AND SUGGESTIONS

CAUSES OF TRAFFIC CONGESTION

 New Traffic Norms: Due to new traffic norms like one way, only right turn, only
left turn etc., numbers of vehicles at a particular point increases which results in
traffic jams on not only that point only but also to the previous and next point.
 VIP Movement Cultures: Political leaders movements in the same lane is a
major problems as they use to block the traffic flow for their smooth movement
with result in huge traffic rush of hours and hours.
 Inadequacy of Traffic Police: Traffic police in Pune city is inadequate in
numbers compared to the number of vehicles and population. All the cross roads
need at least six traffic police at a time but it is seen that the number of traffic
police are always short and due to the lacking of proper instruction the vehicles
are getting trapped in traffic. Only two traffic police are working in the city which
is inadequate.
 Narrow Roads: Streets of Pune are not too wide spread, due to illegal possession
on the road they are getting narrow and becoming a reason behind traffic jam. So
every possibility is there to expand the road as per their right of way to reduce
traffic jams. Moreover this will be less expensive and less time consuming due to
land acquisition won’t be required in this process.
 Illegal Parking: Illegal parking in NO-parking area on the road has been creating
jams every day. On-road parking of vehicles is one of the main reasons behind
serious traffic jams in different parts of the Pune city.
 Increasing number of Commuters: With an ever-so-growing IT Sector at its
core, there is a continuous increase in the number of employees. This directly
puts a load on the Transport System as the number of Commuters steeply
increases along with it.
 Higher Purchasing power of the public: Due to the higher purchasing power of
the citizen of Pune city the numbers of vehicles is increasing every day due to the
growth of it sector but existing roads, subways, FOB and highway are not
constructing according to the increasing number of vehicle. As a result traffic
jams is increasing at an alarming rate.
 Improper Planning of City Development: City Development planning is not
proper. Roads, Highways and service roads are not pre planned.
 Improper Lane Management: Lane management is an important fact in
managing the traffic in Pune. Many types of the vehicles try to overtake the
vehicles even in the single undivided road. This is the main reason that the city
roads are unequipped with the lane dividers which divide the lane into incoming
and outing traffic.
 Traffic Signals: Traffic signals are out of sync many times on purpose or
occasionally when the computers are malfunctioning ending creating traffic chaos
in the city.
 Low Occupancy Factor: The occupancy factor in Hinjewadi is 1.25 for ‘Two
wheeler’ and 1.87 for ‘Cars’. This is very low when compared to the average
occupancy factor for Pune city as specified in the ‘Comprehensive Mobility Plan
for Pune’ is 1.6 for ‘Two wheeler’ and 2.9 for ‘Cars’ respectively.
 Redundant Public Transport Facilities: It has been observed that the frequency
of public vehicles is very low in the IT Park as on an average one government
transport bus (PMPML) is available every half hour.

SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS
 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), metro rails and mono rails should be built in different
part of the city to encourage the use of public transport.
 A well planned and implemented ring road could solve the problem of traffic
congestion.Pune inner ring road project to open for bids on July 6,2019.
 The footpaths should be cleared, free from illegal parking, illegal driving, small
shops and hawkers which occupy half the space of the footpaths causing
hindrance to pedestrian.
 Government initiated schemes of carpooling.Carpooling is good option to reduce
to contribution to traffic roads and public transport is also one of the solutions to
reduce the traffic on roads. Working class people should use this method of
carpooling during the peak hours while going and coming to office.
 Road widening, removing encroachments and building flyovers, signal less
circulars, subways are some of the long term solutions that resolve some of
problems in the area.The roads are dug up for various reasons like to install utility
lines-sewage, water pipelines, cooking gas connection, electricity and optical
fiber network and telephone. Timing of digging should be fixed and should be on
fast track so that the traffic does not get disrupt. There should be deadline to fix
the dug roads.
 Restricting routes for Rickshaw Rickshaw should not be allowed in all the routes
of the city. RTO should take some responsibility to control the increasing number
of rickshaws by imposing registration fee and legal documentation. Stricter norms
of RTO while issuing driving licenses and removal of intermediaries lead to
better disciplined drivers.
 Construct short fly over at the meeting road for all the age’s pedestrian to lighting
the congestion.
 More traffic police or officers for controlling traffic should be appointed on the
roads/signals as they are only one who direct the traffic or serve the road traffic
policing unit enforcing the rules on the roads.Proper and sufficient parking
infrastructure should be provided in the highly population density area. Malls,
multiplexes and corporate offices should provide parking to its customers and
employees in their premises.
 High tech solutions like GPRS, CCTV s, sensors and other devices need to install
in order to provide 24/7 traffic advice. This covers different types of incidents
one can expect to face on the roads like congestion, weather conditions, road
work and many others things.
 Encouraging people to use effective, frequent, fast and quality public transport
can help in mass traveling and reducing number of vehicles on roads for
commuting purpose.No of people from the family traveling on should avoid
commuting and use appropriate vehicle Two-wheeler should be preferable as and
when possible.
 Illegal hoarding should be curbed to ensure the safety of road commuters. Roads
are dug up for installing pandal during festive seasons, thereafter the potholes are
not filled and patches are not repair. Strict action should be taken for non-
repairing the roads. Folding method should be used.
 Mass Transit System should be started in the city by inviting private operators to
share the burden which will help in carrying more people with fewer vehicles.
E.g.-For carrying 50 employees of a company 50 Two Wheeler, 25 auto
rickshaw, 20 cars will be required but only 1 bus can carry all. This will not only
reduce the cost but also help in reducing pollution and will carry more commuters
in 1 vehicle.
 Vehicles older than 12 years should not be allowed to run on road.
 Mainly, we travel to work, for business and for education and all the origin and
destinations are fixed. Hence we should use public transport to reduce the traffic
problems.Number of Buses should be increased on the basis of population of the
city.
 Increasing the number of Traffic police As the city is running with inadequate
amount of traffic police than required, so it is the need of the hour for the
authority to increase the number of traffic police. This step will create some
scope for employment also. Only recruitment is not enough, they should be
trained up for the betterment of the traffic management.
 With minimal PMPML buses traversing in and out of the IT Park, Metro-Zip [an
initiative of Hinjewadi Industries Association (HIA)] is the primary source of
public transportation in Hinjewadi. At present more than 120 Metro-Zip buses are
in use.

P ublic Transport - Improved, Comfortable, easy to use and punctual

 U nbiased tough decisions with a long term vision

N o - No to individual vehicles and use of public transport

E ffective monitoring and sustaining the changes

CONCLUSION
Pune city is an important urban center in Maharashtra and a rapidly growing
metropolis of the country. The metropolitan area of Pune extends over 809 sq km. The
Pune Metropolitan Area (PMA) consists of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), the
Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), Cantonment Boards of Pune and
Kirkee and some villages. The total length of road network in PMC area is about 1800
km.The importance of Pune as an industrial centre has grown rapidly since the 1960‟s
when industrial expansion in Mumbai region was curtailed. Consequently Pune has
become a major centre in the state, having attracted engineering industry such as
motor vehicle manufacturing plants buses, cars and motorcycles. In addition to this, a
number of muti-national companies have manufacturing bases within the city. Much
of the local industry is concentrated along the main Pune-Bombay highway, enabling
manufactured goods to be dispatched. The city has experienced steep enormous
population growth due to inward migration of both skilled and unskilled labour for
rising industrial base and service sector. It still remains a favorite destination for
students as well as retired community. For the last two decades Pune has registered a
steep growth in number of public private vehicles. But the road infrastructure and the
utilities have not expanded in commensurate with increase in number of vehicles.The
city manifests all the problems of a metropolis like increase in traffic congestion,
speed reduction, environmental pollution high incidence of road accidents and
degradation of quality of life. The problem of road accidents has been brought out by
an unprecedented growth in motorized vehicles which is further aggravated by the
interstate truck movement that cuts through the Pune city.People seemed to be quite
upset with the current system for traffic system.They believe that good governance
can improve the system.

REFERENCES
 Articles from various newspaper like Times of India, Hindustan Time etc.
 Measuring Urban Traffic Congestion- A Review International Journal for Traffic
and Transport Engineering, 2012, 2(4): 286 – 305.
 Traffic Congestion In Indian Cities: Challenges of A Rising Power Kyoto of the
Cities, Naples, March 26-28, 2009.
 Traffic Congestion- Causes And Solutions: A Study Of Talegaon Dabhade City
Journal of Information, Knowledge and Research in Civil Engineering, ISSN:
0975 – 6744 | Volume 3, Issue 1.
 Traffic Congestion and Possible Solutions in Urban Transportation System
International Journal of Advance Research in Science and Engineering, Volume
6, Issue 7, July 2017.
 Website:- Ministry of urban development,GoI.
 Development of effective Urban Road Traffic Management using workflow techniques
for upcoming metro cities like Lucknow (India), Manuj Darbari Sanjay Medhavi and
Abhay Kumar Srivastava, International Journal of Hybrid Information Technology,
Vol.1, No. 3, July, 2008.
 Research on Urban Road Traffic Congestion Charging Based on Sustainable
Development 2014 International Conference on Applied Physics and Industrial
Engineering, 2014
 Regional traffic office MH-12 site for data and google form was made by me for
the survey.
 Road Traffic Congestion in the Developing World Vipin Jain, Ashlesh Sharma &
Lakshminarayanan.
 K. S. B. Prasad, Dr. G. Venkata Rao and S. Venkatesh, Study on Traffic Congestion Cost
– A Case Study. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, pp. 774–
779, 2017