To ease traffic congestion in the city, and as an alternative to the Traffic Restraint Scheme (TRS), the state has suggested that only those who own parking space or at least rent one should be allowed to get a vehicle registered in their name.
The suggestion was made by additional government pleader Shashi Nair in the Bombay High Court on Wednesday, during the hearing of a PIL filed on the TRS.
The scheme aims to restrict vehicles on the basis of the last digit of their registration numbers, from entering heavy-traffic areas on certain days of the week.
When a person goes for the registration of his/her car, we will ask whether he/she has parking space. If not, then the vehicle will not be registered, Nair told the court.
Nair informed the HC that the TRS was not feasible for Mumbai, and that the government has come up with alternative solutions to decongest traffic.
A meeting was held by the joint commissioner (traffic), transport commissioner, MMRDA officials, BEST officials and others wherein they discussed the alternatives, he said.
To encourage car pooling, the government plans not to allow cars with less than three passengers in free lanes or high occupancy lanes.
On a four-lane road, the extreme right lane or fast lane is to be used by light vehicles. Cars with fewer than three persons will be intercepted at signals and asked to shift to the second or third lanes, Nair told the court.
Another suggestion was to ban plying of 20-year-old vehicles on city roads on weekdays. They would be allowed to ply only on weekends or on public holidays, the court was told.
The government is also working on dedicated bus lanes, and if that happens, BEST will put 200 air-conditioned buses on the road by December.
The division bench of Justices Bilal Nazki and V K Tahilramani has now asked the government to put these suggestions in an affidavit in a weeks time, and posted the petition for hearing on July 8.
The court was hearing a PIL filed in 2003 by the NGO Bombay Environmental Action Group in support of TRS.