Heavy Vehicles

Yesterday Mumbai Traffic Police issued an order, which covers restriction in timing of plying heavy vehicles in  Mumbai City, citing the problem of growing traffic snarls. This ban comes into force from 1st Feb 2018. The order is as follows :

1. No heavy vehicle can enter city from 8 am to 11 am, and 5 pm to 9  pm.
2. In South Mumbai heavy vehicles including luxury buses(outstations -inward/outward) will be banned from operating between 7 am  and 12 mid night.
3. However vehicles carrying essential commodities and luxury and other buses carrying from outstations are permitted to enter the city.
4. However in South Mumbai Vehicles carrying Vegetables, Milk, bread, Bakery Products, Drinking Water Tankers, Petrol/Diesel/Kerosene Vehicles. Ambulances, Govt and Semi Govt Vehicles and school buses are exempted from this order.

Regarding restricting the timing of heavy vehicles entering city limits during morning and evening peak hours is commendable, but this order is also drafted without giving proper thought by some one sitting in AC cabin and who  does not know the intricacies of traffic pattern at the entry points. I would like to deliberate few points on this matter

1. There are so many IT offices/Manufacturing Units in Thane and Navi Mumbai , where  Employers provide Contract Bus Services to their employees who are coming from Mumbai to reach there place of work. How they are going to reach their office in the Morning and come back home in the evening.  Have the transport dept interacted with these companies before issuing this order.
2. Similarly there are many school near the entry points on both the sides, where school students commute in school/contract buses through out the day depending upon the their class shift timing.
3. There will be big queue of heavy vehicles from 8 am to 11 am and 5 pm to 9 pm before the entry points to Mumbai and this will hamper the traffic of normal vehicles entering the city, which will in effect lead to traffic jams before the entry points.
4. Some people will start sending goods in medium size vehicles(like tempos) to city, and this further add to traffic chaos.
5. Have the policy makers  forgotten that  Mumbai is not a separate city now, it is now covered by  Mumbai Metropolitan Region, popularly known as MMRDA area. By separating Mumbai city from MMRDA area  is not going to solve the problem because working places, residences of the people staying in MMRDA area are interlinked. Thus by restricting the heavy vehicles in Mumbai city is going to have cascading and multiple affects in the other areas.

Now what ever I have read about the order concerning South Mumbai does not make any sense, and I think this order is only to please the Elite Class of the Society staying in certain parts of  South  Mumbai. This is the area where all State Ministers , Bureaurocrats, Industrialists , High Court Judges and other top Semi Govt official  and top Industrialist  stay. Few points which need to be deliberated :

1. Mumbaikars know that Mjumbai Metro 3 which is from Colaba to Seepz (Andheri East) is under construction. Few years back when this Metro line was  under planning and it was on elevated tracks like other city Metro lines, but these Elite people protested there will be traffic problem and their life will be disturbed and miserable, and they changed the Metro to totally under ground one, thus doubling the cost for the same. Now when the under ground tunneling and other work started these same people objected that work should not be carried out in the night, and they managed to get the HC order saying that no work after 10 pm. This order of no heavy vehicles can enter South Mumbai from 7 am to 12 Mid Night, now if the heavy vehicles can not enter during this time then how the Metro 3 Contractor is suppose to carry out work, and night time they are not suppose to work. God help Metro 3.
2. Even in South Mumbai area many offices where employees commute by Contract Buses, they are going to be seriously affected. Thank God they have spared the school buses, may be top officers’ children are studying in South Mumbai schools hence the school buses might have been spared.
3. Now what happens to outstation luxury buses  which start and terminate in South Mumbai, when they are allowed to enter city during restricted time at entry points, why they can not ply up to South Mumbai. Why this special treatment to people living in South Mumbai, other than Elite class there are many areas where middle class people also reside who commute by luxury buses.
4. What about Tourist buses, which take tourists coming to Mumbai for Mumbai Darshan. This order means that Mumbai Darshan in Tourist buses can be done only in the night, and this way tourism to city will be affected.

I have been Mumbaikar for almost 6 decades now, in my life time I have never seen a more sense less order than this before. Instead of going for all these things, if they would have banned the plying of certain heavy vehicles carrying essential/non essential items during peak hours, the traffic to  certain extent would have been eased. The essential items like Vegetables, fruits, Milk, Bread, Newspapers etc are generally supplied in the early morning only.

Waiting for for your feed backs and comments.