Odd-even policy in Bengaluru: Experts say it won’t work

Even as it remains unknown if the odd-even policy for vehicles plying on Delhi roads has been successful or not, Bengaluru’s burgeoning traffic woes may ensure that it be replicated in our city as well. Mooting the idea, Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy had recently said that the government would keenly observe how well the latest implementation of the policy fares in Delhi, before trying it out in Bengaluru to reduce traffic and pollution.
Enforcement is not easy
Implementing the policy here, though, is not going to be easy, say experts, adding that it will not have the desired effect either. Traffic expert MN Sreehari, for instance, is dead against the idea. “Who is going to enforce the policy? How many traffic policemen can be spared to implement this rule when they have to keep track of over 48,000 junctions and the thousands of kilometres of road? How many more cameras will have to be deployed to capture moments of people flouting the rule? And what prevents motorists from switching between a four-wheeler and a two-wheeler according to the allowed number plate for the day or, for that matter, fixing fake number plates that are easily available at JC Road or Kalasipalayam? If pollution control is at the heart of this policy, they have got it all wrong and should instead look at preventing fuel adulteration, which happens in the outskirts of the city. Most lawmakers and enforcers are aware of this and have not been doing anything about this. Once they stop fuel adulteration, the exhaust will automatically be far less polluting and harmful to the environment,” he says.
Will implement govt wish: Cops
Additional Commissioner of Police, R Hithendra, however, refused to comment on the issue, adding that his department would do whatever is necessary to implement the policy, in the event of the government ordering the same. “We are government servants and will implement the rule if the government so wishes,” he says. In an earlier conversation with us, Hithendra had said that effective carpooling, ban on old commercial vehicles, and better coverage of public transport systems, like the Metro, for instance, were the only feasible means to curb the city’s traffic menace, which is poised to hit the once-crore mark in the next five years.
Exemptions will make mockery of policy
Speaking to us on condition of anonymity, a senior police official said that the odd-even policy cannot take off without a robust public transport system in place. “Even with a fairly good public transport system, the odd-even policy has not worked in Delhi, then how can it in Bengaluru? Let’s say the government goes ahead and implements the rule and gets some 30 lakh vehicles off the road on a particular day. Even if five lakh find a way out of this, how are you going to cater to the transport needs of the other 25 lakh? Is the government going to tell people to head out to work only every alternate day?” he asks. The other issue, the official adds, is that once the policy is implemented, there will be multiple exemptions, starting with, for instance, government vehicles. “Then, like it happened in Delhi, there will be exemptions for women, cabs, senior citizens and so on and so forth. Eventually, it will become a mockery of the system. If the policy is implemented or not, what could be done is for big companies with huge staff strength to enforce carpooling,” he says.