The usual hype and enthusiasm around the recently concluded edition of Car-Free Day in Gurgaon may be missing, but a survey of the volume of traffic has revealed a significant decrease in the number of motorised vehicles on road this Tuesday.
The traffic survey carried out by EMBARQ-INDIA on on October 6 and the following day shows that the number of cars came down on the four corridors – DLF Cyber City, Golf Course Road, Electronic City Udyog Vihar Phase-IV and HUDA City Centre-Subhash Chowk — on the Car-Free Day. At Cyber City, the number of cars came down from 36,648 to 32,535. Cars on the stretch from HUDA to Subhash Chowk decreased from 28,543 to 28,025, while on the Golf Course Road the number came down from 39,500 to 38,322. At Electronic City, the number of cars came down from 25,161 to 21,419.
The number of two-wheelers also came down on all four corridors. An overall reduction of 11,400 vehicles was observed on the four stretches, indicating an achievement of the goal of a Car-Free Day.
The survey also points to a slight increase in the number of cycles and cycle-rickshaws on the four corridors.
While on the HUDA City Centre-Subhash Chowk stretch the number went up from 861 to 1029, the number of cycles on Golf Course Road increased from 11 to 1,706. At Electronic City, the number of cycles came down marginally from 1,478 on a regular day to 1,364 on Car-Free Day, while the number of cycle-rickshaws on Golf Course Road increased from 350 to 400.
Car-Free Tuesdays in Gurgaon, which have completed three consecutive weeks, have been termed an 80 per cent success by police here with pollution reducing by 12-15 per cent as reported by the Haryana Pollution Control Board.
“The Car-Free Days are a voluntary initiative unlike Car Free Day in Paris where cars are banned by law. The 10 per cent reduction in motorised traffic shows that people really want to support this cause. Improved public transport would further see people giving up cars,” said Sarika Panda Bhatt (Manager City and Transport) Embarq, India, an organiser for the event.
