I am going straight into second gear.  The first chapter, which is titled preliminary has only one line which I am not sure of the implication of. All copy paste from the bill draft are italicized.

• Grants or loans made by the central government to the national authority after due appropriations by parliament, which goes into the road safety fund.
• A portion of the insurance premiums collected in the country, exact fraction to be specified by the central government.A
• Any other sources that the central government will specify

State Authority:

• State has to appropriate as per this law

• Central government may take some money from the national safety fund and give to the state safety improvement plan

Comment: This is the weakest portion of the law.  There is no estimate of the funding requirement.  The state safety authority funding is left to the states.  So you have a funny situation where the center is thrusting a requirement on the states.  But there is no clarity on how the state will fund the state level agency, which it appears has a significant role in taking the intended legislations to the ground level?

In municipalities and in some states panchayats also do road building.  How will these state level actions percolate down? Despite all the noise, local government is once again not discussed here except for some cursory lines.

In summary - a national authority is being setup.  It is not clear how the authority will impact safety in the broad mandate provided to it.  Maybe a good method would be to take a step back and discuss what steps are required to acheive road safety and map it back to this authority.

The functioning of the national authority should have more transparency and efficiency.  Current definition still reads as too long.

A state authority is mandated and dumped on the states

Funding remains a question for the proposed authority

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The bill at this stage proposes to set up another set of authorities - A National Road Transport and Multi-modal coordination Authority at the central level and equivalent state authorities at the state level.

The language is near identical on the nature, structure and slection of members and removal.  Removal process again is fairly long and convoluted as commented earlier. One difference appears to be that the chairperson of the national authority (presumably safety board, though it is all poorly worded/drafted) serves on the selection committee for the road transport authority.  By that is there an implication that this authority is subordinate to the other one?

117 - Objectives of the Authority-"to plan and develop integrated, safe and sustainable transport systems that contribute to an inclusive, prosperous and environmentally responsible India consistent with the purpose and objectives of this Act"

This sounds like a broad mandate, however, one is not clear how this agency will be effective in a local issue such as a city public transport system. It would be good to add more specificity to this mandate.

Some specific examples have been added in 117(2 & 3)

Concerns:  These are all high level mandates.  There is no distinction made on national level, state level and local level issues.  While civil society is desirous of higher level of control in local issues, it is important to structure this law to restrict the scope to the right level. 

Section 118: Functions of the NRTPM-MCA:

a.     Develop a National Road Transportation Plan: Which has several elements defined in detail which reduces to medium and long range planning.  Public consultation is required for the plan and the plan has to be notified annually -> seems strange for what is called a medium and long range plan?

b. Design and frame schemes for interstate transport of passengers and goods

c. Technical assistance to central govt and other appropriate agencies - state govt, municipality, panchayat etc. on planning and developing public transport infrastructure

d. Protect future options for transport system improvement - including advicing central and state govts on reserving land, for future projects such as infra projects or BRTS or trucking corridors

e. Ensure improvement and asset utitiization of road transport

f. Facilitate multimodal integration, find ways to have PPP

g. Capacity building programmes for geting trained manpower in place

h. Monitor and report on whether passenger service is meeting expectations

i. Develop and implement suitable environmental policies for sustainable transport sector

j. Information dissemination to public in the form of maps, time tables

k.Data collection and research

l.  Function as economic regulator for interstate transport of passengers and their goods by transport vehicles undernational passenger transport permit (several categories are defined: scheduled services, restricted scheduled services, metered services, restricted metered services, chartered services or restricted chartered services;

m. A catch all phrase asking to discharge any other functiopn or duties..

A reaction to the above is once again a feeling of bit of a confusion.  Ideally, bulk of transportation activities happens at the state and local levels.  From a central government perspective, interstate transport, cross country goods movement and an efficient and economical transport infra and capability is important.  Seeing a line which envisages the national authority advicing a municipality or panchayat seems to muddle the picture. SImilarly the section on creating time tables and maps...

The next section goes on to say:

2. In performing the functions conferred on the National Transport Authority, the Authority shall –

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The national authority also has the role of Infrastructure and Multi-Modal Facilitation

Definitions:

1.Transit Improvement Infrastructure shall include:

a.The development of bus, truck & multimodal terminals, interchanges, transfer and depot facilities;

b.Development of parking places;

c.Development of rest areas;

d.Traffic calming controls and other safety related infrastructure;

e.Construction of turnouts, overlooks, and viewing areas;

f.Construction of over bridges and underpasses, grade separators;

g.Construction of grade and grade separated pedestrian facilities;

h.Facilities for non-motorised transport like footpath, cycle tracks.

2. “Integrated Freight Transport Hub” means an operational place on roads and highways that is designated as such and equipped with adequate facilities and equipment, and capable of functions such as providing paid services to the public, warehousing, information transaction centers, yards, parking spaces and roads, in connection with all aspects of freight transport.

3. “Intermodal Transport Facility” means an Integrated Freight Transport Hub connected by road with at least one other mode of transport

Section 178 – In connection with Freight Transport Hubs and Intermodal transport Facilities, the National Authority will identify locations, develop guidelines, develop procedures for licensing operators of such facilities. The operators will have liabilities as per license and will assist in providing data to state transport authorities for dynamic data availability

Section 179 –Road infrastructure development work such as standards for design and construction and classification of roads, specification of standards for infrastructure, service levels, etc. for different classes of roads, development of rest areas along highways with NHAI, disabled friendliness of infra.  The authority also has to develop guidelines for road safety and traffic management as well as “achieve” reduction of congestion in urban areas.

Section 180 – Transit improvement infrastructure performance program – by the national authjority to monitor and quantify performance of infrastructure to ensure that improvements and infrastructure is being used to meet the targets set in the state’s transit improvement plan.

Section 181 – Highway safety improvement program – Another monitoring and evaluation framework to evaluate steps, actions by NHAI towards highway safety improvement.

Section 182 – City safety and traffic management improvement program: Another monitoring and evaluation framework for larger cities to make sure that investments are made towards improvement of the targets set.

Sounds like a nice wish list, but how will all this translate into action on the ground since budgets, implementation etc. is in the hands of other branches of the government or agencies.  Looks like a case of giving responsibility to study, but none of the power.  At any rate, this seems to be directed at centralizing everything in the hands of a central/national authority.

Section 183 and 184 – Annual reviews of state compliance and periodic updation of standards. Nothing of much value.

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For those too lazy to read the entire bill or are too busy flying at 35,000 feet above ground, there is an executive summary:

http://morth.nic.in/writereaddata/linkimages/Road%20Transport%20and%20Safety%20Bill%202014%20Draft-0068086402.pdf

Of course, we will have to read the bill in its entirety to see if there is any connection between the stuff in it and the exec summary.

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Thanks a lot for posting this.  I will go through some of the parts especially chapters III, IV, V , X and XIII over the next few days.

Srivathsa

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Thanks Sanjay for sharing the info.

We should be read the draft bill and sned inputs  to below maiid and follow up with the to include whcih is correct thing and which have failed in present form due to lack of so any loose ends.

rtsbill2014-morth@nic.in

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There is a lot of stuff in this draft. At first glance it looks like a "catch all" for everything to do with road transport, not necessarily just road safety. So, I figured I would take a peel the onion type of approach to wrap my mind around this beast and consequently I plan to make multiple posts to present my understanding of the bill and the possible act.

As we know there are other laws and policies already in place governing road transport and safety. Just to give one example, the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 purportedly covers many of the aspects of road transportation and safety that the 2014 bill/act goes into. This document is available here:

https://olps.punjabtransport.org/Central%20Motor%20Vehcile%20Act%201988.pdf

There is also a 2007 document called "The Report of the Committee on Road Safety and Traffic Management" which includes the 2007 version of the "National Road Safety and Traffic Management Bill". It is unclear what happened to this bill. This document can be seen here:

http://www.infrastructure.gov.in/pdf/Road_Safety.pdf

I have not done a thorough search to find other acts/policies/documents that are part of the entire gamut of road transportation and safety. So, it would appear that all these pieces of legislation and policies will get subsumed by this "mega act".

So, I would summarize this latest bill as a "mother of all bills" which incorporates all aspects of road transport and safety into a single document. If enacted, the act could trigger the setting up a "Mother Of All Bureacracies" if not managed carefully.

There are sections of this bill that apparently do not have anything to do with road safety. For example, Chapter VI describes a National Road Transport and Multimodal Coordination Authority  while Chapter VIII prescribes a Public Goods Transport and National Freight Policy which will presumably make interstate commerce easier. So, I see these as elements of the bill that were shoehorned in to meet the Big Chief's "Make in India" mission and to make India globally more competitive. What we see here may be an exemplar of the "business first" posture of the new government.

There is also a recommendation to set up another authority (didn't I say something about MOAB?!) called the Infrastructure and Multimodal Facilitation Authority. I am sure it is clearly differentiated from the National Road Transport and Multimodal Coordination Authority but the devil as they say is in the details. I hope these two authorities don't step on each others toes. I am sure there is a provision for a higher authority to resolve any disputes that may arise between various minor authorities.

So, where is the meat with respect to road safety? Chapter X is devoted to road safery and traffic management and provides for enactment of safety rules. Chapter XIII describes a National Highway Traffic Regulation and Protection Force (thankfully, this is just a Force not an Authority) provides for enforcement of rules and Chapter XIV describes offences and commensurate penalties. I am yet to find out what is new here that we don't already have.

My apologies for getting carried away -- heavily influenced by the 303-page bill, what I intended as a mere preamble to my analysis of the bill took on a flavor of the bill.

VVR

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The first impression formed upon reading this draft bill is that it is multiple bills concatenated into one. There is also an indication of centralization of power which does not bode well for effective implementation as well as buy in from the states. As VVR mentions above, there are several authorities and forces being set up by the bill. The report of the committee on road safety in 2009 timeframe -see link provided by VVR above, has strongly influenced the draft and is prerequisite reading to understand things better.

So there is talk of seeing up a Vehicle Regulation and Road Safety Authority. According to the aforementioned 2009 report, there are similar agencies in US, UK, Sweden, Australia etc. There is also state road safety authorities planned, to be setup and funded by the states! It somehow reminds me of the pollution control boards. We all know how well that setup works.

This vehicle regulation and road safety authority oversees a Unified Driver Licensing System, a Unified Vehicle Registration System, and basically, according to the bill, removes all situations adverse to road safety. The National Road Transport and Multimodal Coordination Authority, both at center and state cover public passenger transport, public goods transport and National Freight Policy. The rest of the bill talks about an Infra and Multi Modal Facilitation Authority, Road Safety & Traffic Management, Insurance, Claims Tribunal etc. As well as a dedicated National Highway Traffic Regulation & Protection Force.

Now with all this, 305 pages appears rather inadequate. Questions that appear really open include how these new agencies will be effective. How will they map and work with each other. What is suitable funding level and how will the be adequately funded? Will this new setup adequately eliminate the corruption and lack of enforcement that lead to the problems faced, at least substantially. What is the existing framework that is being replaced etc.

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Sec (38) – The National Authority will specify standards of construction of motor vehicles including cars, two wheelers, trucks, buses, trailers.  This includes dimensions, construction codes, weights, safety equipments, lights, reflectors, towing standards, standards for spares and accessories etc.  This also includes emission and noise levels. There is a mandate, especially among truck and bus body to promote competition in the bus/truck body manufacturing sector.

Section 39-42 deals with enforcing regulations on weight, construction, maintenance, safety equipment etc.

However, it is not clear how the enforcement of these regulations would be done.  It is one thing to specify for example weight limits.  Without enforcement, this remains on paper.  Similarly, there are a lot of unregulated bus and truck body construction operations around the country.  How will this act get them under control.  The organized sector can be relatively easily controlled in this act?

Sections 44-48 introduces a concept of Type Approval Certificates and Certificates of Conformity which are required to sell vehicles in India.

This seems like an interesting move which will work with the regulated sector.  What is important is to ensure clarity, transparency, speed and effectiveness in this process.  This cannot be a greased and bribed process and any regulations or standard should be well worded with reasonable exceptions possible.

Section 49-50 introduces type approval for spare parts (parts fitted in an approved vehicle automatically get type approval), however spare parts manufactured by other manufacturers need to get this. 

Again an interesting move.  It is not clear what this process will regulate? Quality? Some basic parameter.  Who decides? Where is the expertise going to come from?

Section 51 has a regulation on retrofitting of vehicle parts. 

This is the region where it appears harder and harder to regulate. Retrofits are done in all kinds of circumstances.  As an example, what happens if someone fits wider tyres to his or her vehicle?

Sections 52-57 is on the area of vehicle safety.  The National Authority will declare vehicle safety standards. 53 requires operators of goods and passenger transport  vehicles to maintain inspection records. 54 introduces vehicle safety testing. 55-57 is around recall of vehicles, liability and obligations of manufacturers. 

Details are limited here and the intent is good.  How will this be implemented.  There is a hint in some other documents that much of these tasks will be through private sector agencies authorized to, for example, do safety tests.  The idea is good, but transparency and rigor will only work when properly setup.  Those details may only come in the regulations.

Sections 58 and 59 specify fuel efficiency standards (to be set by the authority in consultation with the BEE) and pollution standards (to be set in consultation with the PCB). 

I get nervous about these collaborative actions.

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Sanjay, please continue the analysis and the commentary. It is very important that we stick with this. Sincere apologies for not jumping in with comments but will do so soon.

You are pointing out many things in the draft that are troublesome. We need to write a collective response and give feedback. There may be limitations to how much we can do on the message board but a small working group can meet for a few hours and discuss the key points to highlight in the feedback. But the preparatory material for such a meeting is your commentary here.

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There are clauses on page 254 (309) about forcing helmets/visibility gear on bicyclists and fines of 1500/-

This is something that is not needed.

They talk ok segregated bike lanes on one side (pg 169) and preach helmets on the other!

Ppl in amsterdam do not wear helmets or any reflective clothing..just because they feel safe on the streets while cycling and thats exactly what we need to target.. and not put any such archaic laws..all just because automoble centric countries have drafted such stupid rules !

What next? they will ask pedestrians to wear high visibility clothing?

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The broad vision for the unified registration system with details to come in other regulations proposed is given in section 85.  The act gives a lot of time for the registration system to come into place once the act is passed.  First the national authority has to be setup and then the regulations have to be drafted and then implementation has about three years allowed. The national registration authority should hypothetically permit a comprehensive, integrated electronic record and easy transfer of vehicles across India.

(85) Unified Vehicle Registration System.

1.The National Authority shall develop the roadmap for the Unified Vehicle Registration System within one year of the date of this Act coming into force and shall implement the said roadmap within three years of this date.

2.The National Authority shall design a Unified Vehicle Registration System in accordance with regulations, such that:

a)it enables the submission of applications for registration from anywhere in the country, either electronically or at the competent authority for vehicle registration in the country;

b)it facilitates the collection of uniform standardised information including information authenticating the identity of the applicant for the vehicle registration, whether through biometric or any other equivalent unique identification technology, identified by the National Authority, and provides for different types of applications for different types of vehicle registration;

c)it facilitates the grant of registration in a transparent, time-bound and efficient manner; and

d)it facilitates the grant of registration in such form and format and containing such information as may be specified by the National Authority.

e)It appropriately integrates various stakeholders including manufacturers, insurance firms, centres of fitness certification, revenue departments of the Central and state governments, enforcement agencies, consumers and motor accident claims tribunal to both provide and share information in order to meet the objectives of this Act.

f)The system shall be developed to ensure that the distribution of revenue to the states and the local government is facilitated in a seamless manner and protects against revenue leakage.

3.Each State Authority in consultation with the National Authority, within two years, shall develop a roadmap to implement a unified vehicle registration system, within one year.

4. The migration to the unified vehicle registration system for all motor vehicles or trailers or semi-trailers or mobile machinery shall take place within three years from the date this Act comes into force.

Suggestion – Section 85-f on distribution of revenue to states and local government in a seamless manner is an important one, which needs to be articulated better.  A good chunk of revenue from vehicles should be invested more at the local level to provide suitable infrastructure.  Centralizing this system should not mean that revenue sharing be dependent on the whims of a central authority.  It is best if the authority prescribes the standards and keeps out of the way.

Also important that the registration system is well funded, staffed and able to keep everything working quickly and up to date such as address change and other details.

State authority seems to have a role in vehicle registration system, but this was not prominently listed in suties of the state authority.  This requirement for all vehicles to re-register in the new system has to be properly implemented.  It should be through while remaining low hassle for law abiding citizens.

(86) Taxation of Motor Vehicles.

1.The Central Government shall develop the principles on which taxes on motor vehicles are to be levied.

2.       The National Authority shall develop an electronic platform and ensure that the collection, distribution and reconciliation of revenue between states, local government is facilitated in a seamless manner.

2.

The details are going to decide how this part works.  Shouldn’t states have some autonomy in fixing taxation rates or is it entirely going to be dictated by the national authority?  I am a fan of some autonomy.  Even though it can mean disparity and confusion, some autonomy makes it easier for states to tailor policy… such as minimizing taxes on public transport or raising taxes on a certain class of vehicles to discourage use.

88(3) A motor vehicle or a trailer or a semi-trailer or a mobile machinery will be registered or given a valid certificate of registration only if such motor vehicle or trailer or semi-trailer or mobile machinery is insured as per the provisions of this Act.

Is this insurance requirement an existing provision now?  Should High Security Plates be used for number plates? Ideally, the number plate should be issued by the agency in a standardized form and not involve any other method being used currently with a variety of plate designs and painted numbers. The other suggestion would be to link the registration to a proof of ownership…a title so to speak, which will force people to be more diligent in recording sales and movement.

(89) Registration, where to be made.

Subject to the provisions of section (93), section (94) and section (107), every owner of a motor vehicle or trailer or semi-trailer or mobile machinery shall ensure that the vehicle is registered by the competent registering authority in whose jurisdiction the person is resident or place of business where the vehicle is normally kept.

(90)(3) The application for registration shall be accompanied by such proof of parking space as may be specified by the State Government of the State within which the competent registering authority, being applied to, is located subject to a notification to this effect provided by the appropriate State Government or Municipality or Panchayat

With this unified registration system, it would be good to specify why the requirement of registration in a jurisdiction where ordinarily resident is valid.  There may be good reasons, but should be spelt out.  I also found the provision for parking space as a requirement for registration interesting, though probably hard to implement.

(91) Third party insurance, valid vehicle fitness and manufacturer’s information.

1. No motor vehicle shall be registered or certificate of registration renewed, unless there is in force, in relation to use of the vehicle, a policy of insurance, a valid certificate of fitness and a unique identifier provided by the vehicle manufacturer to the unified vehicle registration system.

Fitness certificate is another interesting concept.  This already exists for transport vehicles.  Guidelines for this should be spelt out clearly to avoid harassment, vagueness and ease of appeal.

(92)

4. No person may drive, or cause or permit to be driven, a motor vehicle with a beacon or a motor vehicle with a high decibel horn, other than such persons authorised to do so in the course of duty, in accordance with notifications published by the Central Government in this regard from time to time

Horns and crazy flashing lights are a menace.  Defining the allowable type of horn – sound and dB level is important.

(97) Change of address.

1. If the registered owner of a motor vehicle or trailer or semi-trailer or mobile machinery ceases to reside at or changes the place of business from the address recorded in the certificate of registration of the vehicle, the owner shall, within ninety days of any such change of address, communicate, either electronically via the internet or otherwise, in such form and accompanied by such documents as may be specified by the National Authority, the owner’s new address, to the competent registering authority within whose jurisdiction the new residence or place of business is located.

2. On receipt of such communication, the competent registering authority may, after making such verification as it may think fit, cause the new address to be entered in the certificate of registration.

Will a new mark of registration be given.  How about inter state transfer? Will taxes be adjusted?  It would be good to separate registration identification from state registration and tax payment.  In fact, the displayed number should be related to tax payment.

(98) Transfer of ownership of vehicle.

Where the ownership of any registered motor vehicle or trailer or semi-trailer or mobile machinery is transferred, the transferee shall, within thirty days of the transfer, and in such manner and with such accompanying documents as may be specified by the National Authority, report the transfer to the competent registering authority within whose jurisdiction the transferee has the residence or place of business where the vehicle is normally kept, as the case may be, so that particulars of the transfer may be entered in the certificate of registration.

What happens if the transferee does not report transfer.  Need to define sufficient proof of ownership/title.  Right now, it is all a bit vague. In fact, as part of a sale, with a uniform system, there should be a provision to quickly report a sale such that the seller ha clear assurance on the transaction being recorded.

100(5) . Where the colour of the vehicle has been changed or any alteration has been made in a motor vehicle or a trailer or a semi-trailer or mobile machinery or by reason of replacement of its engine or chassis, the owner of the vehicle shall, within fourteen days of the making of the alteration, report and update the alteration in the unified vehicle registration system with the specified fee in order that particulars of registration may be updated.

All these provisions are good, however, it is essential to make sure that provisions are enforced to keep the database up to date.  Otherwise, we will once again have a totally messed up system in short order.

 (107) Registration of vehicles belonging to the Central Government.

Once again, special provision for central govt vehicles.  I think this should be removed.

(108) Information regarding stolen and recovered vehicle.

Puts onus on owners, police etc. to keep the registration authority updated on stolen vehicles, to ensure that information on stolen vehicles is up to date in the database.

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As I type this, am seriosuly wondering if this is becoming one of those notes to self documents without any readers.  Nevertheless, I shall continue to plough my lonely furrow

This section appears to want to bring into place a "unified" driving license applicable throughout India, all enabled on a software platform, sort of like "Core banking".  So presumably, one can go and apply for a renewal or modification in any suitable office across India and your driving "record" is accessible across India.  Overall, that seems like a good and necessary objective.  So Kudos.  The DL system is also governed by the Vehicle Regulation and Road Safety Authority

Suggestion: I would love for Section 62 to state that a Driver's license is a privilege and not a right.  This should become like a mantra.

Section 63 insists that one person should have only one driver's license. If multiple licenses are found, then all licenses will be invalidated and the person would be treated like a person driving without a license.

Section 65 introduces a requirement for additional training for drivers of transport vehicles and school buses. Does transport mean only good or does it also include public transport?

Under section (66) - Grant of license, I found the following sections to be of interest.

I call sub section 3, the anti harassment clause, provided details of section 2 are well defined and publicised. Looks like a learners for 9 months is mandatory.  THe requirement for a certificate from a school or establishment is another tricky one.  How to make these schools accountable and not like the current hole in the wall type operations? Section 67(10) has a clause which caught my attention with regard to accountability. It states:

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Given that this document is really long and I don't want to print it out to make notes I am posting as I read.

a. I would like to see a vision or end objective for this act.  What are we trying to achieve here? One gets a sense of some objective but it is not stated explicitly.  Unless I missed it.  E.g. Promote the safe and seamless movement of goods and people within population centers (cities and villages) and between population centers.  Promote eco friendly means of transport to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, etc etc.  

The Act should support these objectives.  I think these are listed as principle on page 53, but there is a difference in my opinion

b. Within the principles (on page 53) I would like safety to be accorded the highest priority.  Safety in terms of engineering - vehicle and roads, in terms of education - licensing procedures, safety awareness and enforcement.  I would add the following principles - simplicty in administering the act, simplicity and transparency in procedures.  It should be inclusive and take into account all road users rights including cyclists, children, senior citizens, the disabled.  Adoption of best practices from countries that have a good system in place.  If these are not called out they will not be included by design.

c. Is there any mention on vehicle construction standards?  Crash tests, etc etc?  I did not see this.  On page 31 it says that the National Authority may issue crash testing guidelines, but does not say anything specific

d. Road construction.  I did not see any mention of IRC guidelines to be used.  This is a golden opportunity to bring this in.

e. I also did not read much about trauma care except that a single telephone number will be provided for calling.  Not much help if the back end is not geared up to reach 15-20 minutes and a trauma care facility can be accessed in another 45 mins to an hour.

f. Last but not least, how will this act be disseminated to the general public.  Will everyone have to undergo some sort of test of understanding once it is made law and keep a printout of a certificate???

Will post as i read more.

Srivathsa

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Srivathsa,

The executive summary slide set referenced in one of the posts above has this high level goal on slide #1:

"Enable the mission of "Make in India"

+ save 200,000 lives over the first 5 years

+ 4% GDP improvement

+ 1 Million new jobs to be created

Over what period the other two metrics will be achieved is not clear.

The sense I get it that these objectives were shoehorned in after the Big Chief came up with the Make in India mission.

VVR

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Dear VVR... thanks for your input.  I agree that we have to digest this bill and then get together to hash out an appropriate response.

Srivathsa - you bring out a very good point.  One aspect I find troubling is that road safety appears to have been divorced from road engineering in this bill.  This bill is essentially a replacement for the the Motor Vehicles Act '88 with some modifications; which is an un-necessary compartmentalization possibly.  

You also brought up the topic of the objective of the bill.  This is the objective statement:

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Continuing from the previous post...

Funding of the driver licensing scheme:  There are cost involved in the issual of driver's licenses as well as updation and maintenance of records and biometric ID.  There is a lack of clarity on how all this will be funded.  If it is to be self sustainable program, what sort of fees are we talking about.  Who claims the monies accrued through this process - Center or State?  Keep in mind that driver's license is a pathway for many of our youth to make a living.  It is important for the costs to be reasonable (though I suspect that they pour in a lot of money into this anyway, currently).

What is the process for International applicants - non citizens living in India?  ANd how about International Driver's permits.  Is that excluded here?

Schedule I list category  of driver's licenses.  There is one on Mobile machinery, which I found interesting.  We have all these people driving cranes and bull dozers and JCBs on the road.  Looks like there will be regulation.  Does it exist presently?

Also, for agricultural vehicles (Category H) in Sch I, it appears that no tests are necessary.  That does not look right, because tractor trialers are driven all over and agricultural equipment are also driven on the roads.

Section 72 on change of address is too short.  Updated records (and ease of updation) are critical for proper enforcement.

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Sanjay,

I am going through your comments chapter by chapter.

Chapter 1: As you say, the only significant point in the chapter is this statement:

1. Communications, that is to say, roads, bridges, ferries, and other means of communication not specified in List I; municipal tramways, ropeways, inland waterwaysand traffic thereon subject to the provisions of List I and List III with regard to suchwater-ways; vehicles other than mechanically propelled vehicles.

Mechanically propelled vehicles (including motor vehicles) by default falls under List I.

So, essentially, the statement is saying that everything that is stated in the bill will now become a part of List 1. Does this requite a constitutional amendment? Don't know.

This may not be such a bad thing to have a unified set of policies across the country. But then as it says later in the document, the implementation of the provisions of the act will requite state machinery and funding.

Not a big deal but I thought I'd look this up and report.

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Thanks vvr for looking up the lists.  I don't know the implication of state vs central.  Let us park it for checking with an expert.  At some level, uniformity is important, but some flexibility at the local level is also important.

I have handed over Ch VII and VIII to Murali to read and comment.  So I am going to skip to Ch IX when I pick this work up again.

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Thanks to Sathya for pointing this out.

Motor Vehicles Bill a weak Attempt to Tackle Road Safety

Here is the link:

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/434723/motor-vehicles-bill-weak-attempt.html

He highlights some of the same things that Sanjay and others have expressed a concern about. Examples:

"Similarly, promotion of mass transport systems like Bus Rapid Transit Systems find mention in the bill, but there is no clarity how this can be done at a national level. Can national government formulate mandatory policies and road designs standards for cities and states? Is it desirable? How does one ensure enforcement and monitoring of such laws at a local level?"

"Proposed institutional mechanisms lack permanent experts, overemphasis on driver training will benefit the operators of driver training schools and stricter penalties and the current format of data collection will distort data. Overall, the current bill is a weak attempt to address the issue of traffic safety in totality". 

"The three authorities proposed in the current bill have similar structure and work through expert committees. However, the bill is silent on creating permanent expertise and research groups which can support the working committees. In the absence of permanent expertise, the authorities will continue to function based on “intuitions and common sense” of the committee members. This has proven detrimental to improving safety in the country in the last 60 years."

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Former Addl Comm Police had an op-ed in the Times of India commenting oin the new law. His article titled "Law tmust enhance road safety, not revenue" accessible here critiqued the oush for oversize fines. While agreeing that improvements are desperately needed in the sector, Mr. Sood points out that high fines increase the tendency to a negotiated un-official settlement. In a telling comment, his opinion can be summarized as "Half-baked policies made without putting in place an objective and transparent implementation system take decades to be rectified and achieve its goals."

Sood points out that without a good enforcement system and methods to use technology to track driver behaviour (a history) will probably be more effective than high fines.  In defence of aspects of  the bill, there are sections which refer to driver history and a system to capture it, but ones does not get a feeling that the frsmework has been sufficiently thought through.

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Murali has provided his comments above.  I am sumarizing this chapter in the draft

Ch VII: Public Passenger Transport

Definitions: For some reason, this section defines BRTS. Beyond that we have different variety of services

145(3)“fixed guide way” means a public transportation facility using and occupying a  separate right-of-way for the exclusive use of public transportation for a bus rapid transit system.

Why so restrictive?

Type of Service

Restricted

“Unrestricted”

Chartered Service

Service provided for an organization for a period of time to transport its employees, contract workers or students.

any passenger transport vehicle for hire or reward, on the basis of either time or distance or time and distance

Metered Service

Vehicle of max 6+1, traveling between 2 stands, charging on the basis of distance traveled. (like a share taxi?)

Vehicle of carrying capacity of max 6+1, providing service fee on the basis of distance and time.

Scheduled Service

Like a stage carriage, 6 passengers minimum, route length less than 125 km, each passenger traveling minimum of 50 km

Like a stage carriage, 12 passengers min, route length more than 125 km, each passenger or groups of passengers paying individual fares, shortest distance a passenger traveling being 50km.

These are the categories of transport services defined.  Metered service is like a contract carriage of present day. Scheduled service is like a stage carriage.  Only confusion is why the definitions do not seem to include the stage carriages used for city transit like BMTC?  Also, some of the additional classifications of restricted and unrestricted seem to include too many categories. Why?

Section 146(1) specifies that the National Transportation Authority can frame schemes for passenger transport under the National Permit (interstate transport) following the guidelines prescribed in subsection (2). There is also permission for all levels of government national, state or even local to submit a scheme to the national authority for approval and upon approval, implement within 6 months of receiving the same.

Section 147 describes the contents of a transportation scheme.  Interesting item of note is that there is an option for private operators to participate in a scheme, if the national authority so decides/permits.  Lot of the details are left for the national authority to fill in through regulations.  It feels like it would be good to at least put a broader vision in place here.

Sections 148 and 149 have the same provisions for State Transport Permit (Intra State) which the State Transport Authority can specify. 149(11) discusses something to the effect that is there is any repugnancy between a scheme of the national and state authority, the national authority’s sche will prevail.  If there is no overlap, why is there repugnancy?

There is a feeling of centralization of decision making in the whole scheme of things.  In order to organize transport between say Tamilnadu and Karnataka, one has to approach the national authority? What about border areas.  If there is a plan to organize transport between Hosur and Bangalore, or Kasargod and Mangalore or Belgaum and Kolhapur, the state authorities cannot decide or organize? They need to go to the National Authority and request for a scheme? Seems to be running in a direction counter to what the world is moving towards.

Section 150 and 151 bring a little bit more details into the concept of a scheme.  However, the direction to be taken has to be to bring in more competition and proper regulation in this year, along with quality of service and grievance redressal.  Today’s scenario when contract carriages are operating as stage carriages and multiple buses under the same permit, transport of goods in passenger vehicles etc. are crying for good quality regulation.

Section 152 describes the need for a transition plan from the present regime to a new regime; and section 153 describes that the state transit authority and state government will plan for infra such as bus depots and bus stands.

Section 154 and 155 describe the requirement of a permit for running a transport operation.

Overall, this chapter feels like a short and inadequate basis for what is a huge part of public transport and the economy. 

Chapter VIII - Public Goods Transport

Broadly, in this chapter there is description of setting up a national freight network, a national freight strategic plan, state freight plans, parking places and halting stations, permits for being a transporter and a section on transport of hazardous material.  Clearly, these permits are one source of revenue.  What needs to be figured out is whether this revenue can be used to run the authority?

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About the sections which involves gear for cyclists and fines, here is a good discussions of the general  public perception

http://goo.gl/4QW8iR

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1. Driving licence issual should be outsourced to professional agencies, with senior officials monitoring their performance.
2. Need for immediate implementation of Unified Emergency Helpline scheme - detailed debate on the scheme on PRAJA may be accessed here
3. Traffic police should be made accountable for strict enforcement of M V Act with regard to display of "number plates" (number plates made out only in Kannada, as is a common practice in Karnataka, should be a very strict no-no) - detailed debate on the subject on PRAJA may be accessed here.

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A summary of the rest of the chapters posted here.  It is too difficult to summarize the extensive details and some of it feels a bit outside my expertise...

Ch X - ROAD SAFETY AND TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

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The word on the street is that the government wants this bill passed in the Winter session.  While the desire to quickly pass legislation is refreshing, in the case of this bill, one is not sure that it is quite ready for passing yet.  The bill proposes a lot of new bureaucracy and several new measures.  Many of the new measures are welcome and to be appreciated.

However, one gets few over whelming impressions which have to be relooked.

A. Significant new bureaucracy at the national and state level without clarity on funding and functions

B. A distinct impression on centralization of functions

C. Lack of clarity on the proper incentives and influencing powers of the new bureaucracy

D. A broad based legislation that is leaving many details to be figured out for later.

The next step is to sit down and generate clear feedback to be submitted to MoRTH.  It may be better to do that face to face rather than over here.  Would it be possible to do this exercise next weekend, say Saturday? Who would be interested to participate.  Where do we do it?

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The other way of looking at this sector is to think in terms of the problems in the road transport sector. I am opting for brain storming approach which hopefully we can organize better and see if the bill addresses those issues. So here I go. Safety, accidents, trauma care, poor road design, licensing, corruption, vehicle standards, accident management, bus systems, enforcement, outdated rules, lack of standardization, fitness certificates.

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Will the mandate to cut non-plan expenditure by 10% and a ban on creation of new posts have an impact on the creation of the new bureaucracy called for under this bill? At a minimum, it may delay starting the implementation of the bill's proposals until the middle of 2015.

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I checked the MORTH website today and found VERSION 4 of the draft bill.  I have no idea what transpired in versions 2 and 3.  However, it would be a good exercise to check for changes in this new version.

Here is the link.  http://morth.nic.in/showfile.asp?lid=1616

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Version 4 does seem to have incorporated some of our suggestions from a first reading, and some details have been better fleshed out.  It is hard to comment further without a detailed comparitive reading.

Any volunteers?

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