AS THE curtains come down on round two of the odd-even road space rationing scheme, the Delhi government is in a quandary. While it ponders whether it should implement the scheme through the year or shift tactics to combat the problem of air pollution, preliminary data from an MIT research project on the odd-even scheme may hold some insights.
The MIT study, organised by High compliance, but more commuters switched to second car, says study the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) South Asia and funded and supported by the International Growth Centre (IGC India), focuses on traffic congestion and driver behaviour, and uses Google Maps travel time queries and phone surveys with at least 1,000 randomly selected drivers in Delhi.
Analysis of the data from this research project was published in The Indian Express after the first round of the road rationing policy between January 1 and January 15.
Gabriel Kreindler, a doctoral candidate studying urban transportation in the economics department at MIT, is leading a second study on the odd-even policy in Delhi. “We have continued to collect data through surveys and Google Maps since the scheme began on January 1. There are differences between the first and second phases of the scheme,” said Kreindler. Preliminary analysis showed that while traffic congestion eased considerably between April 15 and April 30 as compared to the weeks in between, more households switched to other cars or taxis on days their own vehicles were restricted. The project includes a sample of 920 commuters — male, diesel/ petrol car owners and regular users — at randomly selected petrol pumps in Delhi. Regular surveys were conducted with the commuters by phone, on both odd and even days. At least 3,000 phone surveys were completed in January and April, before and during odd-even 2.0.
