The IT corridor of the city is synonymous with the snail pace of vehicular traffic and long stretches of cars and buses. Comic posts on social media on ‘one can watch a full movie on-road’ are common to describe the rush hour traffic scene.
In a desperate attempt to bring solace to an otherwise bad situation here is a green initiative – carpooling. Bengaluru Traffic Police stepped up measures to end bottlenecks during rush hour on the IT stretch on Hosur Road and Bannergatta Road by floating a campaign on car-sharing starting Wednesday.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M. A. Saleem called the initiative ‘need for the hour’, and aims to effectively implement the practice across the IT stretch after this weekend. “We are looking at reducing 50,000 cars from these roads within the next six months,” added the senior officer whose team has been in conversation with various IT firms for over a month to kick-start the initiative, which is cost effective and eco-friendly.
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Carpooling along the IT corridor, mainly in Electronic City, Whitefield, K.R. Puram and Koramangala, is planned with employees of various companies coming together and sharing a car to commute to work and back. Traffic police teams are working in coordination with representatives of IT firms to chart out a scheme wherein staff travelling on a particular stretch can team up and shuttle to office in one or a few vehicles, thus deducting the need for each one to drive one vehicle.
Incentives including fuel allowance and better parking space for effective carpooling teams are also in the pipeline. Police have roped in NGOs to identify routes and batches of people that can start ride sharing. For the crucial question of security of employees, mainly women travelling in carpools, to work, Mr. Saleem said that people from the same firm would be part of a carpool. Therefore, passengers should feel safer.
“However, they can seek police assistance at any time in case they have a problem during the commute,” he added. Later, police aim to create awareness about the carpooling initiative among office-goers in other parts of the city, but that is a long shot due to safety aspects and unease about commuting with strangers.
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(Reporting by
Petlee Peter)