Unbearable traffic situation

Traffic jam, a source of constant worry to the city commuters, has assumed unmanageable proportions, particularly over the last two days as multitudes of people remained stuck in the roads for hours together. The congestion looked almost insoluble as vehicles formed long queues in the main thoroughfares and there was no end to the sufferings of people.
The traffic personnel have clearly no answer to the jams that completely paralyse life in the city and bring all kinds of activities to a near standstill. The terrible situation prevailing in the city and its outskirts might push us to the brink of an economic breakdown, if it persists on the scale it did in the last two days.
The traffic managers tried to re-launch the three-lane system that introduced in the past, albeit without much success. Now the managers themselves have admitted that it might have contributed towards worsening the situation. Such experiments conducted from time to time have produced no tangible results as the main causes behind traffic jam remain squarely unaddressed. A deputy commissioner of traffic put the blame on reopening of English medium school the day before yesterday and also the town-ward swirl of people before Ramadan. There might be an element of truth in his contention, but the fact remains that no preparation was taken in anticipation of the situation to tackle it.
It is of course unlikely that the situation will improve in the foreseeable future, unless some special measures are adopted to keep things under control. The road space has not increased to keep pace with the rapid increase in number of vehicles, particularly private cars in the city. While it might not be possible to stop sale and purchase of cars, still it is imperative to keep in view the capacity of the city roads. Either we have an efficient mass transportation system or have more of by-pass roads or we go underground or have expressways. Maybe a combination of all four. These are longer term options, no doubt.
The traffic bosses have to put their heads together and find out how to deal with the long and unbearable traffic jams that are causing colossal loss to the nation in immediate terms. Short term measures like keeping certain type of vehicles off the road at least on certain days of the week should be considered seriously to bring back the missing throb to life in the city. The other imperatives are to regulate arbitrary stoppages of buses, creating more parking space and phasing out slow moving rickshaws.