Karnataka tables Bill for creating umbrella body to manage Bengaluru traffic

The Bill provides for measures such as “congestion parking, parking regulations, tolling, special-purpose lanes etc to regulate travel demand in the urban mobility region”.

The BMLTA, the umbrella body, will consist of 36 members with the chief minister as its ex officio chairman and representatives from agencies such as the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, Bangalore Development Authority, Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority and the Bengaluru police, among others.

The Bill also plans to “establish appropriate frameworks for engagement of the private sector in planning, development and management of mobility-service delivery and effective contract execution by the urban transport agencies, traffic management agencies and infrastructure development agencies”.

The authority will prepare norms for implementing transport projects in the public-private partnership framework or with other financing mechanisms. It will also give recommendations on policy measures, permits, vehicle registration, mobility services, handling of goods and traffiflow management to the state government.

Parking policy, non-motorised transport policy, transit-oriented development policy, multimodal integration policy and freight transport policy will also fall under the umbrella agency’s purview.

The authority will prepare a traffic management plan “at least once a year”. This will include traffic flow plans, freight and construction vehicles movement plans, traffic-calming measures such as partial or full closure of streets, and plans for special occasions, incident management and emergency evacuation.

The Bill also emphasises seamless mobility of differently abled people, senior citizens and children.