Motor Vehicle Act: Hefty fines come a boon for public transport in cities

New Delhi (Urban Transport News): After enhanced traffic penalties under the new Motor Vehicle Amendment Act 2019 came into effect from September 1 in all part of the country, people started using public transport for their daily commute. According to data, ridership of in Delhi Transport buses and the footfall in each corridor of the Delhi Metro rail network have gone up by around 4.8% and 3.3% respectively in the 10 days. To avoid the risk of having to pay hefty fines under the amended Motor Vehicle Act, people are thinking about using public transport, this may be considered as a boon of public transport in the cities. It will also help low traffics in the city roads and low carbon emission into the environment. Traffic police officers say that after enactment of the new Motor Vehicle Act, there is a considerable decrease in traffic at major intersections. However, they do not regularly maintain data pertaining to change in traffic volumes across roads.

There has been a visible change in traffic volume after fines for traffic violations were increased. Busy junctions at ITO and Rajouri Garden, which used to be choke-points, are seeing fewer jams even during peak hours. There is no study done on this as such, but our personnel has been giving us regular feedback.

According to data revealed from the Delhi Trasport Corporation (DTC) and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), it has been shown that the ridership of public buses for six working days between September 1 and 10 stood at 25.37 million, compared to around 24.21 million for the corresponding period in August. Similarly, ridership in all corridor of Delhi Metro rail network increased to 34.19 million between September 1 and September 10, as compared to around 33.10 million for the corresponding period in August. After interacting with the public,  several of them said that they opted for bus and metro as they didn’t have papers needed while driving, an offense that could attract heavy penalties.