[whitewing]

Bringing a congestion tax would be welcome WHEN public transport & last mile connectivity is effective.
We also live in a city that has not been able to ensure adequate parking infrastructure - even for newly constructed buildings.

Till then this remains just a revenue generating excessive.

[Sebring]

No country has this last-mile connectivity perfected. London has no space so the congestion tax is justified, but in Bengaluru I see that congestion occurs when trucks decide to do a U-turn or autos take a sudden deviation. More or less illegal driving. When you look ahead of these blocks, the way is clear. So it's more of policing and fines and cams that are needed

Originally Posted by whitewing

Bringing a congestion tax would be welcome WHEN public transport & last mile connectivity is effective. We also live in a city that has not been able to ensure adequate parking infrastructure - even for newly constructed buildings.

[Naetik30]

Congestion and Bangalore are synonyms. So when you say congestion tax in Bangalore, it translates to Bangalore tax in Bangalore. Basically, everyone pays for it.

[thanixravindran]

Didn't KA government tried earlier to clamp down on ride sharing as well bike taxis? Probably they should encourage them as an option for congestion reduction.

The roads listed are all arterial roads connecting suburbs to city centre, businesses and work places mainly IT companies.This is money making exercise to loot private cars.

If implemented, they will neatly exempt cabs and autos citing it is their living. So either you need to use them which will get votes or pay congestion tax to reach workplace which will get money to spend on 'welfare'. Bangalore companies and techies will evolve to add this as a perk in salary negotiation

[am1m]

Even if implemented effectively (and that's a big IF), will it work? I've seen restaurants in Indiranagar and Koramangala- no parking, average food, horrible service experience, high prices, people inhaling traffic fumes while waiting outside with all the cars and cabs idling and stuck outside the restaurant - yet people still flock to these places like clockwork.

An extra congestion charge is not going to stop people from taking their cars wherever they want to unless it's prohibitively high. And making it prohibitively high is not going to be fair to the majority of road users given the average incomes in our country.

[ComicCharcoal]

It will help de-congest if the public transport infrastructure(ie Metro+feeder buses) is more viable alternative to personal vehicle.

Just compare it with Delhi metro and you see large swathes of area unconnected and afar from metro. Without an effective public transport and with auto-rickshaws which almost never accepts rides without extra money, what other choice do people even have, other than personal vehicles?

[ohaak]

How much of the traffic is due to Ola / Uber and taxis as opposed to private cars especially in the heart of the town? If we are doing congestion charges, will they also apply to taxis?

[charanreddy]

Like every other government decision, this is a biased, hair brained idea which seeks to further inflict pain on the tax payer while the inept government laughs their way to the bank. Also the fast tag is a bad way to collect toll in a high density area. I have waited up to 10 mins as the vehicle in front did not have balance and it took 10 mins for the toll booth assistant to collect cash, refund the change and give the paper slip. If this is implemented, the fast tag toll areas will become bigger choke points than the Silk Board junction ..

[Warlock]

This policy has so many obvious pitfalls. Besides the ones already mentioned, people who live within the congestion area, cant be forced to also pay this charge for their personal vehicles. The public transport infrastructure isnt well developed enough to rely on with any faith.

The smart city roads in Bangalore, have been a problem as well. Roads that used to be broader are now 2 lane (with some of the bigger ones being 3 lane, causing bottlenecks when they intersect a 2 lane road). When it rains, the way the roads have been redone (drainage has not been thought through) have made flooding an even bigger problem. Small showers are enough to create swimming pools.

Gross violations of traffic rules are even more rampant. In Bangalore one was streets are always rife with 2 wheeler traffic that has decided that the one-way rule does not apply to them. There are cars and trucks that take the view that a one way is not a one way after 10:00 p.m. and before 7:00 a.m. Have had many a shouting match about this with people violating a one way, particualrly on the street I live on.

The lack of lane discipline, as well as the mentality of trying to fill any tiny space with a wedge of metal (vehicle), leads to traffic snarls. There is a lot to fix, simply trying to overlay an obvious revenue generator (congestion tax) for the Government, without plans to improve the infrastructure (public transport, road works, active policing to curb violations), seems illogical.

[Samegoodkid]

How about a refund for pathetic roads and infrastructure ?We already pay a lot of taxes.

[true_sedan]

The very reason for congestion is poor urban planning. The common man already pays for this in the form of wasted fuel, time and energy. Now why should he/she pay with money too. This is another harebrained idea by netas and babus who are incapable of solving anything. Everyday I turn the newspaper only to be met by news of “weird” taxes. Strange government we have.

[RunGaDa]

I say, give yourself one year to do all the analysis, projections, planning and come up with a solid 15 year plan on how the city infra should hold up. Currently there are zero municipalities who can do that.
Hence voted second option.

[Raghu M]

How about starting with VIP convoys, CM passings and other unnecessary meetings that hold up traffic for hours together? After all charity starts at home.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Raghu M

How about starting with VIP convoys, CM passings and other unnecessary meetings that hold up traffic for hours together?

While I share the dislike that most of us have for politicians, their assorted chelas and the "doesn't apply to us" culture they represent, to be entirely honest, I've hardly even been held up by VIP movement in Bangalore at least. Perhaps 3-4 times total in over 25 years using Bangalore roads.

In the same vein of honesty (reality) the people who cause congestion are just like me. When I look left or right in traffic, it's car owners just like me who are causing the congestion. I don't have the answers/solution. But we can't pretend the problem is with someone else, or because we pay road tax/lakhs for our vehicles, it's someone else's problem and theirs to solve.

After 3 years commuting on the ORR to work, I find IT companies complaining about traffic especially ironic. Granted poor urban planning is to blame. But we also exacerbate it and then blame everyone else for the situation.

[Raghu M]

Originally Posted by am1m

While I share the dislike that most of us have for politicians, their assorted chelas and the "doesn't apply to us" culture they represent, to be entirely honest, I've hardly even been held up by VIP movement in Bangalore at least. Perhaps 3-4 times total in over 25 years using Bangalore roads.

In the same vein of honesty (reality) the people who cause congestion are just like me. When I look left or right in traffic, it's car owners just like me who are causing the congestion. I don't have the answers/solution. But we can't pretend the problem is with someone else, or because we pay road tax/lakhs for our vehicles, it's someone else's problem and theirs to solve.

After 3 years commuting on the ORR to work, I find IT companies complaining about traffic especially ironic. Granted poor urban planning is to blame. But we also exacerbate it and then blame everyone else for the situation.

Agree partially. In that case, why are we paying a road tax? Isn't the road supposed to be drive worthy? No? You might not have seen a VIP passing but let me share an example with you. Couple of months ago, our beloved CM decided to visit Maharashtra and he did that with a convoy of around 800 vehicles. The traffic scene that day in Hyd was nothing short of a horror story. Kids, adults, elders, patients, push cart vendors - you name them, they were all stuck for close to 3 hours in traffic that did not move. Why? Simply because the police chose to block the entire highway towards Maha. You have an ambulance wait for these convoys to pass, so where is the law? I am not against the tax, am all for it but the implementation will most likely be pathetic and clumsy to say the least.