Experts bat for staggered office hours to ease traffic

PUNE: People riding pillion on two-wheelers will have to pay a fine of Rs 500 if found not wearing helmets. This decision of the Pune traffic police comes even as they admit that 95% two-wheeler riders in the city do not wear helmets.

"Not wearing helmets, talking on the phone while riding and jumping signals are some of the main traffic violations in the city. We have increased the fine for not wearing helmets from Rs 100 to Rs 500. A fine of Rs 500 is being slapped on pillion riders not wearing helmets," said assistant commissioner of police (traffic) Rajendra Bhamre.

Bhamre was speaking at a seminar on "Traffic in Pune", organised by the Public Concern for Governance Trust (PCGT).

Speaking to TOI later, Bhamre admitted that 95% two-wheeler riders in the city do not wear helmets. "We fine such riders. If both rider and pillion are found not wearing helmets, a total fine of Rs 1,000 will be slapped on them.Wrong parking is another issue we are dealing with. A pay-and-park system has been proposed for all roads," he said.

However, daily commuters said the police need to do a lot more to ensure that people wear helmets.



"I always wear a helmet but find that many don't even if the police are around. I see police checking driving licences at Swargate but many riders whiz past them without helmets. Before starting to fine those riding pillion, they should first ensure that all two-wheeler riders wear helmets," Akshay Raut, a daily commuter, told TOI. Traffic experts suggested firms to stagger working hours to reduce the traffic rush in the city during the peak hours.

Speaking at a seminar on "Traffic in Pune" on Friday , Prashant Kakade, the deputy director of Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT), said apart from several other measures, a responsible approach on the part of the professional firms was the need of the hour.

"There are professional firms in Pune who have changed their work timings to ensure their employees don't get stuck in traffic jams while coming to workplaces and going home. The city has many other firms. If they can tweak their work timing, it will put less pressure on roads," he said.

"In Pune, the traffic management has been done without considering the type of area, its density and traffic flow among others. One needs to understand that traffic management of any place is case specific and replications cannot be done. But replications do happen, leading to failure and chaos," Kakade said.

Officials said the working hours could be easily tweaked and implemented.

"The common timing for reaching the office is 9am or 10am in most firms and the log out time is 5pm or 6pm. They can ask their employees to start early and come to the office by 8am, for which people will have to start from home anything between 6.30am and 7am. By doing this, the employees will not be stuck in the morning or the evening traffic," an official said.

Kakade said CIRT recently conducted a survey on if people in the city wanted zebra crossings at road intersections or underpasses. "It was surprising to find that maxi mum people said they wanted subways. This shows that people in the city are afraid to cross a road even if there is a zebra crossing," he said.

Officials of the Pune Regional Transport Office (RTO) said the poor condition of reads in Pune were the foremost reason for the traffic mess.C S Chavan, the assistant regional transport officer in Pune, said people gave strange reasons for not wearing helmets.