One car per family? A senseless move

• Double tax for second car, plans to curb traffic
• 35 lakh vehicles in the city, 60-70% are two wheelers; 10-15% are cars
• 600 new vehicles are added every day, out of them 10% are cars

Should Hyderabadis limit themselves to one-family, one-car formula? This is a suggestion by two RTA officials of Andhra Pradesh to bring the traffic situation under control.

Despite the claims by the traffic police authorities that the speed of the traffic at peak hours has been increased to 25 kmph from 12 kmph, the reality stands contrary.

There are 35 lakh vehicles in the city and 600 new vehicles are added every day. Of the 600 new, 10 per cent of vehicles are cars. With so many vehicles on roads, increasing the speed of the traffic has become a daunting task for all the authorities. Senior officials at the transport department are contemplating the idea of one car per family. And they firmly believe this might be the solution to tackle down all the traffic related issues. The idea of one car per family was reportedly discussed at a meeting held in Delhi which was attended by the top brass of the transport department.

According to an RTA official, the aim of this proposal is to curtail the addition of new cars. Rules say that after one vehicle if a person buys a new vehicle, he has to pay additional 2 per cent above the tax. The authorities are considering doubling the tax for the next vehicle so that the buyer might think twice before buying.

But this doesn’t happen. Petrol and diesel prices are almost double. But is there any slowdown in consumption? If a person can invest Rs 30,000 to more than Rs 1 lakh for a two-wheeler 0r Rs 3 lakh to a couple of crores for a car, he won’t mind paying an additional 2 per cent as tax.

The concept is more redundant than Arnab Goswami’s “Nation demands an answer” comment.

Not so long ago, the former transport minister of Karnataka, N Cheluvarayaswamy, had mooted the same proposal. He was inspired by countries like Singapore which restrict the import of cars in a bid to control traffic congestion.

But the irony was that Cheluvarayaswamy himself used two cars — his personal SUV and his official car. His explanation was, "Mine is a family of four. I have one family car. As the transport minister and Mandya district in-charge, I have to travel a lot. So I use the government car."

While the person who suggested the plan blatantly flouted it, excuses like having more persons in a family and multiple uses can be given by any layman, as Cheluvarayaswamy himself had testified it. This answers the practicality of the utopian concept. A family of five can still own five cars, registered in the name of each family member. The country can take some inspiration from Singapore which addressed this situation in a very premeditated way. Apparently, the South Asian country does not manufacture automobiles, and import transport vehicles, including cars. One has to book a slot and wait for months or even years until they get a car from the fixed quota of imports.

In India, the only way to reduce the number of vehicles on the roads is to freeze production and not issue any more licences to new manufacturing units.

But the duties and taxes coming from industries become the spine of a majority of states and shutting down production of more cars may never materialise in the country.

If these were not enough, banks were also helping each costumer making car buying an easy affair with EMIs and other offers.

A way to reduce traffic congestion, can be car-pooling, Singapore style. We see many cars with just one person in it. One can just imagine the amount of space that can be saved on the already congested roads if such persons choose car-pooling.

Other proposals of the meeting were:

• Use of battery operated vehicles, they have tax exemption. Used in Delhi, once recharged it can run for 150km
• Increase number of AC buses by RTC from point to point
• No encroachments on footpaths.
• Use hydrogen operated vehicles like Brazil does
• Employ BRTS on all roads