Greasing traffic congestion

The registered number of motor vehicles in the country stood at over 3.3 million as at December 2008 - 3,390,933 to be exact according to a front page report in our edition yesterday. Not bad for a poor third world country. That is, roughly one in every five citizens owns a motor vehicle in Sri Lanka -an unenviable record one may say. The report goes on to add that there are 250,000 vehicles registered within the Colombo city alone. This is only the figures as at December. We are now in September 2009. One wonders how many more vehicles may have been added to the unending fleet.

Time was when the Colombo roads were calm and quiet except for the occasional irritating blare of a vehicle horn. Accidents were few and far between and air pollution was unheard of. That was also the era when the roads were free of the now ubiquitous private buses and the highway code and road discipline was rarely flouted.

The floodgates opened by the market economy saw this serene picture shattered and like the many alien things that swarmed the country motor vehicles began to make their presence in unprecedented numbers. Brand new cars, vans, buses became one of the most visible features in the first flush of the open economy. Very soon our highways became flooded with vehicles of all descriptions bringing its own problems such as congestion, a snowballing fuel bill and environment pollution, not to mention the high rate of accidents.

According to our report, at present Rs. 30 billion worth of fuel is wasted annually as a result of traffic congestion. The report quoting Transport Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna states that nearly 850,000 people come to Colombo daily. Of them, 500,000 come in 12,000 buses while the train commuters number 100,000. The other 230,000 come to Colombo in their own vehicles.

These statistics were given by the Minister to emphasize the need for straightening the public transport system so as to reduce the number of vehicles coming to the city. This means deploying additional buses to get motorists use public transport. But who among the vehicle owners will opt for bus rides? One of the methods devised to prevent congestion was the Park and Ride concept where motorists were told to park their vehicles at a parking bay in Moratuwa and travel to their work places by a special luxury bus service chartered by the Transport Ministry.

But this project had proved a flop judging by the poor response. The reason is obvious. All motorists would like to flaunt their vehicles and show themselves off. There is nothing more thrilling for a motorist than to drive to his work place in a brand new motor vehicle to be seen by his colleagues. It gives him a sense of importance that a bus ride cannot match. Here the Transport Ministry has not reckoned with human vanity.

Therefore other methods should be explored to reduce the heavy influx of motor vehicles into the city. One of the methods is for a lone motorist to provide a ride to colleagues or neighbours who themselves own vehicles to city. They could take alternate turns in this regard with those who were guests turning out to be hosts on other occasions. This, while reducing the number of vehicles entering the city could also cut down on fuel costs not to mention other positive benefits such as less air pollution and even less accidents. This experiment is being tried out in certain countries which are similarly grappling with vehicle congestion.

Saying that, the Government should also develop our highway system to accommodate the large volume of vehicles. Today a motor vehicle is no longer a luxury item but is part of the possessions of the average citizen as attested to by above statistics. Besides the concessionary terms in payment and other package benefits have made vehicles within easy reach of the middle income earner. A vehicle is also an essential accessory of modern day society. That is why motor vehicles still keep flooding into the country despite so many deterrents by way additional levies and import duties slapped against traders.

Therefore what is needed is more flyovers and expressways to ease the present congestion while also taking other steps to control fuel consumption and air pollution as is done in other countries. Some time back there were plans to introduce a toll system for major highways. While this may not prevent vehicle influx the huge collection could be put to good use.