Skip to main content

Traffic congestion plan for Delhi

India's capital Delhi looks set to see the introduction of a congestion charging scheme. The city authorities plan to launch the scheme in a bid to tackle endemic traffic congestion.
April 26, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Delhi has need of some form of traffic control as its vehicle population has doubled to 6.8 million in just five years. PICTURE: Neeraj Singh.
India’s capital Delhi looks set to see the introduction of a congestion charging scheme.

The city authorities plan to launch the scheme in a bid to tackle endemic traffic congestion. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi is aiming to charge INR 150 ($2.87) for cars, motorbikes and even rickshaws entering the centre of the city during peak daytime periods. The city authorities have watched the benefits to traffic control in London and Singapore following the introduction of congestion charging schemes. At this stage it is not clear what technologies will be used but given the experience gained with the schemes in London and Singapore and various other cities (such as Oslo and Stockholm) it seems like that Delhi will benefit from a second generation system that will operate relatively efficiently. Introducing such a scheme in Delhi will see traffic control on a much larger scale than ever tried before however and there will be numerous technicalities to deal with in the process.

Both Beijing and Shanghai are considering congestion charging to help deal with endemic traffic problems at present as well. Delhi certainly has need of some form of traffic control as its vehicle population has doubled to 6.8 million in just five years, despite the introduction of a new metro system and extensive bus transport in the city. Traffic jams and delays have become routine in Delhi and despite the switch to LPG for buses and other diesel powered vehicles some years ago, air pollution is a growing problem.

Related Content

  • Royal Haskoning DHV’s Saudi bottleneck busting contract
    July 9, 2012
    Royal Haskoning DHV has been selected to tackle 30 major traffic bottlenecks in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh over the next two years. ArRiyadh Development Authority (ADA) decided to award the US$1.87million (€1.5mn) contract to the Dutch project management, engineering and consultancy service provider following a call for tenders. The population of Riyadh has risen dramatically over the past few decades and currently stands at around 5.4 million and, as a result, the city's roads and motorways are reach
  • Royal Haskoning DHV’s Saudi bottleneck busting contract
    August 13, 2012
    Royal Haskoning DHV has been selected to tackle 30 major traffic bottlenecks in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh over the next two years. ArRiyadh Development Authority (ADA) decided to award the US$1.87million (€1.5mn) contract to the Dutch project management, engineering and consultancy service provider following a call for tenders. The population of Riyadh has risen dramatically over the past few decades and currently stands at around 5.4 million and, as a result, the city's roads and motorways are reach
  • Mumbai’s new coastal transport link
    July 6, 2022
    Mumbai’s new coastal road presents an ambitious and challenging project that will help improve the lives of the city’s inhabitants - Mike Woof writes
  • Developing Delhi's local transport systems
    February 9, 2012
    Siemens wins BRT order A major contract order was placed with Siemens by DIMTS (Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Limited) on behalf of the local Transport Department for the development of the city's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system.