New Delhi: The proposed Master Plan of Delhi (MPD) 2047 marks a significant shift in the approach to traffic management in the city, seeking to actively discourage the use of private vehicles through congestion pricing, parking demand management and stronger transport governance.Unlike MPD 2021, which merely acknowledged the need to reduce dependence on such vehicles, the new plan proposes specific regulatory tools to make their use less attractive, especially in congested areas.The plan, which is yet to be notified by ministry of housing and urban affairs, proposes that road-owning agencies or the transport department, in consultation with Delhi Traffic Police, identify congestion pricing zones. These could include areas around transit-oriented development nodes, the heritage zone of Walled City and Metropolitan City Centre. Measures like RFID tagging could be used to implement this pricing system.MPD 2047 also proposes using parking restrictions at work centres, entertainment and cultural hubs, markets and other high-demand locations to reduce the number of trips made by private vehicles.“Strategies, backed by strict enforcement, should be used to make parking a demand-management tool. These include restricting on-street and off-street public parking in areas with good public transport accessibility and introducing dynamic parking charges based on the location and the time of the day,” according to the plan.The underlying objective is that people should have fewer incentives to bring their private vehicles into already congested areas, particularly during peak hours.Experts, however, caution that disincentivising the use of private vehicles won’t work unless govt provides a reliable alternative — a comprehensive public transport system with last-mile connectivity. “People use private vehicles as they have no other option and don’t want to face the daily ordeal of commuting by public transport,” said Amit Bhatt, managing director for India at International Council on Clean Transportation. “We need to add more buses, expand Metro and build cycling corridors in all parts of Delhi,” he said.The experts also stressed that achieving these objectives will require a major overhaul of Delhi’s transport governance. “Places where public transport systems are successful, including London and Singapore, have one agency which does all the planning: from pedestrian pathways to metro corridors, with individual projects thereafter executed by other agencies,” an expert said.MPD 2047 proposes the establishment of a Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) for Delhi. It will be responsible for planning and developing an integrated transport system, overseeing its implementation and enforcing related policies.However, the experts warned that merely creating another authority may not resolve the transport problems. Organisations like UMTA exist in several other Indian cities, but their effectiveness has been limited because their budgets and functions are dependent on transport departments, another expert said.“Ideally, this agency should have enough teeth or power to plan everything,” said Anil Chhikara, former deputy commissioner of Delhi transport department. “We need a strong organisation headed by LG or the chief secretary, and comprising representatives from departments like IT, PWD, metro, DTC, MCD, NDMC, DDA, discoms and DJB,” he added.
