Government plans to introduce congestion tax that will charge you for parking your vehicle at public places
Government plans to introduce congestion tax that will charge you for parking your vehicle at public places
Not used to slumming it out in the city buses?u00a0 Better get used to them if the state government implements what it has just proposed. 
Space dearer: DCP Manoj Patil said slapping a congestion tax would free
up public parking spaces. Pic/Representation pic
A plan mooted by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Manoj Patil will soon require you to pay a congestion tax, which means you will have to cough up to park your car in a public place.
This the DCP said would deter dependency on private vehicles and free up parking space in the city, at the same time encouraging people to make optimum use of public transport.
The ever-increasing number of vehicles on the city roads has been a matter of constant trepidation for the traffic police who are at a loss for want of apposite ideas. "The traffic situation in the country is worsening day by day. If the situation persists, a few years down the line, the scenario would be unimaginably catastrophic when even motorable roads will have to be used for parking," said Patil.u00a0
u00a0The tax will be implemented in four forms. Firstly, a particular area will be identified and passes issued to its residents and their vehicles. A new vehicle entering the area would be charged a particular amount through toll plazas. This system would be further extended to charge vehicles for every extra hour they are parked on, say, Laxmi Road.u00a0
The high occupancy congestion charge, which was mooted by the National Urban Transport Policy long ago, includes taxing vehicles not carrying passengers to capacity. The aim is to utilise the vehicle's capacity to the hilt and in turn encourage car pooling.
Telescopic parking rates will entail giving away free parking space for the first two hours and then charge incremental rates exceeding Rs 30 for every additional hour. This is to discourage the practice of hijacking a parking space where people park for more than 20 hours or even days together. The major role here will played by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), while the traffic police would be expected to enforce the system and charge motorists flouting prescribed norms.
The scenario
So, if you stay in Deccan and is on an outing with your family on MG Road, in your car, be prepared to pay a toll since you are entering a new area. At other times, if you plan to park your car on the busy Laxmi road for the next 12 hours, while you roam the streets, you would have to pay toll that increases by Rs 30 to RS 40 for every additional hour. Also, if there are just two you in a SUV or minivan, be ready to pay up.
Citizen activists have supported the congestion tax saying the move would help tackle the parking space situation in the country. Sujit Patwardhan, from NGO Parisar, said: "The more the people are weaned away from their vehicles, the better. However, the money collected through this tax should be used for improving the existing public transport in the city and not to build more road infrastructure which only encourages people to use their vehicles."
Figuring it out
*u00a0Currently, 2.35 lakh vehicles are registered in the city with 100 more registrations every month.
* For these many vehicles, a corresponding parking space of 382 acres is required. On MG Road in Camp, even at 2 am, 50 per cent of the parking spaces are full. If all vehicles are parked on the roads, no motorable roads will be available in the city.
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