Bengaluru traffic crisis: BJP MP Tejasvi Surya calls for measures like Delhi’s odd-even policy

Tejasvi Surya also calls for an urgent meeting with Karnataka DyCM D K Shivakumar and elected representatives of Bengaluru to address the crisis.

By: Express News Service

Bengaluru | August 21, 2024 06:49 PM IST

3 min read

Bangalore South Lok Sabha MP Tejasvi Surya (Source: Facebook)

Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya on Wednesday called for solutions like Delhi’s odd-even policy to address the Karnataka capital’s growing traffic woes. He also called for an urgent meeting with Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and elected representatives of the city to address the mobility crisis.

Surya wrote on X, “Something drastic has to be done to address this (traffic woes). And it needs to be done NOW, with warlike urgency. We need to experiment with out-of-the-box solutions like the odd-even model or the Singapore model of limiting the number of cars or anything radical that works in the short term. In the long term, we need to double down on our investments and urgency on public transportation and drastically reduce private vehicles. Each person owning a private vehicle model will simply not work for a densely populated country like ours.”

Under the Delhi policy, vehicles with registration numbers ending in 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 were allowed to operate on odd days and others on the even days of the month. In 2017, Karnataka Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said the state would assess how the the odd-even policy fared in Delhi before trying it out in Bengaluru. Mobility experts, however, believe the policy would not work in a city like Bengaluru, given the more than 47,000 junctions and the 12,878-km road network. They also believe that enforcement could be a challenge given that people can use fake number plates to circumvent restrictions.

The BJP MP further said that successive governments and political parties had failed to provide Bengaluru the leadership it deserved. “The traffic scene in Bengaluru is getting more distressing every passing day. Even Sundays, which used to be relatively easier, is becoming as nightmarish as the weekdays. Everyday, we are adding thousands of new private vehicles onto the roads which is only adding to the problem. Even running errands from neighborhood stores takes so much time,” he wrote.

Shedding light on the congested and expensive mobility options in the city, he wrote, “Clearly, we are not doing enough to reduce the number of private vehicles on road and increase the public transport options. BMTC is crowded. Metro, during peak hours, is so packed that you feel suffocated. The high charging Uber Ola taxis are not reliable and take forever to even turn up at your location. Autorickshaws simply cancel rides on you. Our footpaths are not pedestrian friendly, and in most places are encroached by hawkers. The condition of the roads across the city is pathetic, with potholes and unscientific humps. BBMP and its officials turn a blind eye to all the commercial developments in residential areas, further adding to the traffic density. In short, the quality of life is getting worse everyday.”

“The city is crying out for help. Our people, especially the middle class, needs us to act to improve their quality of life. We are spending more time in mind numbing traffic than with our family and loved ones. I urge the Hon. DCM @DKShivakumar who is also the Bengaluru Incharge Minister to call for an urgent meeting with the elected representatives and traffic management experts and discuss solutions that we can unanimously push forward,” Surya further wrote.

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