[asingh1977]

Originally Posted by Urban_Nomad

Car reg (odd/even)
Contact no
Traveling from - to
Travel timing

That is something quite cool, to be honest. Creating an APP around this would be savvy. One would input the above details, and the phone would map+link on the geo-code and people can join car pools on-the-fly. Or even pre-book slots. It would rock for sure. Of course the destination would be a parameter.

[condor]

Pollution Soars, says Saddahaq. 16 of 17 monitors have recorded max or record high levels in pollution. So, as was predicted, it is not the cars.

https://www.saddahaq.com/pollution-s...ough-for-delhi


That apart, people are returning from the year end vacation. The traffic will increase a little more. And so also the crowds on the metro

[hybridpetrol]

Originally Posted by sdp1975

If this scheme continues people will purchase a second vehicle , or a 2-wheeler, to manage their daily commute. Ironically, it's the temporary reduction in congestion that will "ïnspire" folks to purchase a second vehicle.

It's just a matter of time before the congestion builds up to previous levels.

Purchasing a second car, is not very simple task for the middle class. It is difficult to just maintain one car, due to the various problems and associated costs it presents. With two cars, the problem is only compounded. Just presenting the below facts to be considered before jumping into a conclusion to buy a second car, which all are already aware:
a) Parking woes: In metros, many people with cars do not have designated parking spaces for even one car. Talk about second car! Those in apartments can mostly get one slot and getting a second car is not so easy. Those with their own independent houses with at least one car park should be considered blessed, because they can park one inside, and keep one just outside their compound.
b) Maintenance costs: If you are the only person going for work, think about the bills you have to bear in addition to the existing costs of the first car. If your second car is a used one, then the maintenance costs will be more than a new car. If already two of you are working, is it even remotely feasible to maintain four cars?
c) Forgetfulness: Do not underestimate this. You will not find the most important item you placed in your car yesterday. Reason? That car is at home, and today you are in a different car. You need to be more careful where you are keeping things, and make sure that both cars have the necessary essentials.
d) Additional work: Will you give the same attention to both your cars, or okay driving dusty cars? If you employ a chap to clean cars, now he should be cleaning two cars a day.

Just a few pointers for the folks who think they can buy second car and solve the odd-even problem.
Unless you have big enough parking and large enough $$$ with you, it is very unsuitable to buy a second car. You would not want to buy an elephant, just because you have some iron chains, right?

[sdp1975]

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

Purchasing a second car, is not very simple task for the middle class.

I agree, there are several considerations involved , and there will be many those who can't - just like there are those that can't afford to buy a car or even a 2 wheeler and use public transport. But there will be those that can afford it. Purchasing power has gone up in recent years. And public transport isn't that cheap either.

I stay in Bangalore in an apartment complex and I have 1 car with even numbering . If such a rule were to be imposed here, I would wait for some time, and most likely end up buying a 2 wheeler - this would be the most cost effective option. Another option would be to purchase an old used 2nd hand car in the 1.5 lac price range, that I would leave outside my apartment complex due to parking limitations.

The fact is, using private transport is faster than using public transport. My office commute is around 1 hrs and 15 mins by car and almost double by public transport. Both numbers would reduce by using odd even formulas, but public transport can't beat private transport timings. I'm still willing to use public transport if it means 30-40 mins extra , but not if it's double the time. And when people see a temporary reduction in the traffic by such formulas, they tend to purchase another vehicle hoping that their timings will be faster, and end up adding to the congestion.

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

Purchasing a second car, is not very simple task for the middle class.

+1

To add to this, I heard that nowadays in Delhi, you do not get registration number as per choice. They are computer generated and you have to take what is generated. If this is true then I would not take chance with another similar number in my second car.

Second hand cars may be the available option.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by sourabhzen

+1

To add to this, I heard that nowadays in Delhi, you do not get registration number as per choice. They are computer generated and you have to take what is generated. If this is true then I would not take chance with another similar number in my second car.

Second hand cars may be the available option.

Actually, 20000 bucks is all it takes to get an odd or even specifically allocated.
In the used cars, 2k1-2k2 running zens available for under 30k in delhi, can you imagine how clean it would be running?

[lordvader]

Originally Posted by sourabhzen

+1

To add to this, I heard that nowadays in Delhi, you do not get registration number as per choice. They are computer generated and you have to take what is generated. If this is true then I would not take chance with another similar number in my second car.

Second hand cars may be the available option.

One can get a number of their choice, through e-auction starting at 20k under the non-VIP category.

http://indianexpress.com/article/ind...f-car-numbers/

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Actually, 20000 bucks is all it takes to get an odd or even specifically allocated.
In the used cars, 2k1-2k2 running zens available for under 30k in delhi, can you imagine how clean it would be running?

Originally Posted by lordvader

One can get a number of their choice, through e-auction starting at 20k under the non-VIP category.

http://indianexpress.com/article/ind...f-car-numbers/

Great. But then, would I spend additional 20 grands over and above the cost of new car to get odd or even number? Uber/ola will be far more economical and connivent solution.

Converting my car to CNG is even better and green solution.

[fine69]

Originally Posted by Urban_Nomad

Hmm. I do wonder how people of Bombay have been managing this exact same feat for decades now with their hot, very very humid, "turn on ac in December" weather (a fact, no exaggeration).

When was the last time you paid 100 rupees to an auto-rickshaw driver when the fare was 50? (The part that mumbai guy refused to use his meter is obvious ). In case you have trouble recalling such instances let me tell you that my wife faces this 2 out of 3 times she travels by auto in Delhi!

Mumbai and Delhi is an apple to orange comparison, lets not get in to it.

Originally Posted by Urban_Nomad

Yup. It's this mentality that got us so far, hasn't it?

When you take credit for solving a congestion problem when you were really trying to curb pollution, jugaad starts to make sense to me even at a moral level.

Originally Posted by Urban_Nomad

I was a skeptic when I first heard of this plan. While I still maintain that more is required to really battle the pollution, this initiative is at least helping reduce congestion.

In all seriousness, I think what would really help reduce congestion is if people are allowed to drive their cars only on dates based on the last 2 digits of their car number. Too bad if you have a 00 or a number above 31, you sir shall not drive then. I'm hopeful that such initiatives would bring carpooling to a whole new level. I mean imagine the possibilities!

Originally Posted by Urban_Nomad

It's also heartening to see many fellow countrymen rise beyond the jugaad mentality. For instance, some people have pasted flyers on my housing society's notice board with the following details:

So there's Tax Evasion and then there's Tax Avoidance, I meant the latter. Also, I don't like to share my car with others so until I'm not breaking any law I'll do all that I can to enjoy all the small and big things in life that I can afford.

I don't want anybody to green-police me because I could so much 'police' everyone around on so many other issues that need mass involvement and breakthrough improvement!

Originally Posted by freedom

I still can't understand why is it such a big deal for people to just switch to Public transport, that too for half the number of days.

So you do have a fair idea of how public transport works for someone living in Greater Noida (say a remote area) and works in interior of Old/New (take your pick) Gurgaon?

Originally Posted by freedom

Delhi is relatively flat terrain, I would even recommend cycling to those who travel 20 km one way and have the physical ability to give it a try.

Hahahahahahahahahha! Sorry if I sound insensitive when I say I care about my life and don't want to die or lose a limb maybe.

Originally Posted by freedom

And no, I am not a supported of this stupid odd-even plan. It is just way to complicated to implement with all the stupid exemption list.

Nope, the exemption doesn't make it complicated at all. Exemptions exist in so many other areas, sorry but there's nothing too complicated about it except that it doesn't really address the problem that its supposed to address (refer to statistics on causes of pollution in Delhi). Its not complicated, just stupid.

Originally Posted by freedom

And here I am in Pune desperately wanting to use bus, but can't do it. The bus routes are useless for my commute.

I would've asked you to come to Delhi but unfortunately the buses don't work for a whole lot of people here too.

[noopster]

^^ Just an observation, from the last few posts it does seem as if people are now being encouraged to buffer their garage with a second car, maybe a cheaper, used option with an alternate number to what is in their garage.

Like they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions!

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by noopster

^^ Just an observation, from the last few posts it does seem as if people are now being encouraged to buffer their garage with a second car, maybe a cheaper, used option with an alternate number to what is in their garage.

Like they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions!

As always.
The people who are looking at this as an option, though, are ones who ditched their car, but found that the suit that they wore at home was a kurta-pajama by the time they signed in.
On the other hand, there are people who have been surprised, and figuratively kicked themselves for not getting onto the public system before.
The first set, however, are in a wait and watch mode. If this is again brought into effect, with NOTHING being done about the existing mismanaged/inadequate transportation system, they will definitely be in the market for another car.

[vasudeva]

The reality from 2 days of my experience is that enforcement is lax and centred around places where the traffic police can provide some soundbites or show some achievement. Yesterday, on my 12 km trip to the office, I gather a 70:30 mix of even (legal) and odd (not allowed) cars. I saw `women' drivers with either no hair on their head or a lot of hair on the face. Encountered just 1 set of traffic police personnel along the way and they were more interested in recounting their weekend exploits with not even a glance at the road. Kejriwal and his fellow loonies can get their daily 15 minutes of fame but I saw a 70:30 mix yesterday and today. I am not sure CNG explains this. As for getting a CNG sticker, budget for hours to get that sticker. I am not even sure that traffic police can make out much in the evening. At 530 pm, visibility drops to a few metres and it is quite hazy.

Frankly, banning is more of a practice followed by authoritarian regimes/ parties with 67 out of 70 seats. Economic sense and human nature suggests higher taxes as a much better demand management solution. If Kejriwal and his ilk get more power or are not getting their daily dose of visibility, they may ban more and perhaps even ban procreation. That would be a great and permanent solution. I wonder why the fundamental question of our liberty and freedom has not entered. High taxes are the way preferred in democracies, not restrictions. Countries ban smoking in public places or tax them higher, but none of the major democracies has banned it. In fact, economists and The Economist have long advocated legalising drugs and taxing them. Much better than the alternative of widespread corruption and crime.

[sdp1975]

Initial newspaper reports suggest that pollution levels have not improved after the odd-even rule.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report...-level-2162334

http://www.firstpost.com/india/odd-e...n-2570760.html

[fine69]

Originally Posted by mayankk

The people who are looking at this as an option, though, are ones who ditched their car, but found that the suit that they wore at home was a kurta-pajama by the time they signed in.

Absolutely! Should I also add the kind, like one of my colleague, who got his wallet picked once or my wife herself who had her handbag snatched, not sure whether I posted about it here. I can share the copy of the FIR if anyone wants!

Suddenly a lot of people have become green (or other) activists but where they have failed miserably is that they didn't stop to introspect that they themselves engage in a whole lot of other stuff which is damaging mankind, environment and what not!

If I tell folks that they need to stop cremations near the ghats because its polluting water how many supporters would I garner? Try attempting something like this and I'll buy tickets for the front seat to witness the consequences! When you know that majority of the population getting impacted is white-collar office going population feel free to implement the most ridiculous of laws, what can they really do!

Why couldn't they ensure that all the auto-rickshaws were GPS-fitted and the same amount of police force deployed to check odd-even crap was checking whether these auto-wallahs were following the rules! The answer is known to us all.

And what really boggles my mind is that I can hire a diesel cab today which is going to cause the same (most likely far more) pollution than my car and the only effect is me shelling out more money than what I would've spent on fuel, my contribution to pollution doesn't really change!

Last and most important, if this move really brings pollution down by more than 1-2% then at least I know where not to send my kids to study, IIT-K. I mean their report has to be bogus if Delhi govt shows different statistics after 15 days.

[vasudeva]

Originally Posted by freedom

Delhi is relatively flat terrain, I would even recommend cycling to those who travel 20 km one way and have the physical ability to give it a try.

Wow this is news to Delhites. Try walking for 1 km and you will get a headache from all the noise. Cycling??. One can do it for a day for maybe 5-10 km, but then the second half of 20 km may not come, and even if it does, the return trip could be where it all ends.