Public Transport: Who will bell the cat?

M. B. S. Fernando, Chairman of the Road Development Authority (RDA), has views that are somewhat radical but certainly worthy of consideration.

Talking to The Sunday Times FT last week, he said, “To solve our transportation problem, we need to invest in public transport systems instead.” The occupancy of an average car plying on the roads is only 1.3 passengers. A bus built for 40, however, carries 100 commuters. Fernando points out that this represents uneconomical utilization of available road space – and leads to traffic congestion. The problem is that we are not paying adequate attention to improving public transport and infrastructure.

Who will foot the bill? Fernando proposes that the money be raised from private car owners. “We import 400 million litres of petrol,” he says, “most of which is consumed by car owners... Charge higher prices for petrol and invest the extra proceeds in public transport.”

“If we were to increase the price of petrol by Rs 100 per litre,” Fernando suggests, that could generate Rs 40 billion.

“Even with lower demand, we would generate Rs 20 billion to invest in state-of-the-art buses and trains, which are clean and run according to timetables.”

The only reason why such a price increase would not be popular is because chairmen of corporations and heads of departments decide policy. These are the very persons who enjoy free cars and petrol as a perquisite! But Fernando has a sugar-coated solution for that too. It costs Rs 75,000 per month to maintain a car for a public servant. Instead, Fernando suggests that Rs 50,000 be added to his salary in lieu of the perquisite. If the public servant uses public transport, he will still be able to save Rs 35,000. Any takers?