Car Free Thursday stands out for helping to curb the congestion on the roads in the city and reducing air pollution to an extent.
“In 2015, we had primarily focused on building awareness about Car Free Thursdays and many cities have taken up the initiative. Thanks to Arvind Kejriwal for taking the discussion further,” says Prashanth Bachu, Urban Transport Specialist with World Resources Institute, India.
With Delhi implementing the odd-even rule for cars, Hyderabad too was supposed to be the next-in-line. But nothing concrete has been done so far. Says Prashanth, “Regarding the odd-even rule, it will be slightly different than what had been implemented in Delhi. The idea is to ask the IT companies to take it up voluntarily.”
He adds, “What companies could do is try and not allow those who arrive alone in their cars. This will push them to fill the other seats in the car, and, hence, carpool.”
The other plan is to improve the public transport. And thirdly, continues Prashanth, “Corporates spend a lot of money on the maintenance of parking spaces, say Rs 1,500 per parking spot, which they could in turn start charging from the employee."
"They could instead use the money to subsidise those who use the bus. For example, say that I work for an x company in Hitec City. The buses that ply are unidimensional, so they charge for to and fro every time. So the person who is not getting his vehicle has to pay twice."
"TSRTC also doesn’t ply many buses in this route because they don’t get so many passengers. If more people ditch their cars and the companies encourage the employees to take public transport, a lot of traffic can be cut down in next three months.”
