Gurgaon: No-car day finds mixed response

On Tuesday, as Gurgaon became the first city in the NCR to observe a car-free work day, the experiment elicited a mixed response from people, who welcomed the move but hoped for better alternative modes of travel.

Gurgaon police chief Navdeep Singh Virk, said that the idea to have the event on World Car Free Day was to create more awareness about a global event. "Around the world, since the early 1990s cities are experimenting with carless travel. We thought that we could try that here, too, given that Gurgaon is always choc-a-bloc with traffic during peak hours," said Virk. In India, Hyderabad was the first city to try car-free Thursdays. The initiative, launched in June this year, in Cyberabad, has seen results in the last few months.

Virk said that the initiative, supported by several corporate houses, saw a mixed response. "Some were euphoric, while some lamented that while they left their cars at home, many more did not. This should be a citizen's movement," he said.

The Gurgaon police announced last week that on Tuesday, between 7am and 7pm, the road from Cyber Hub to the Golf Course, the road leading to Udyog Vihar, to Huda City Centre, and Subhas Chowk will remain closed for cars. To prepare for the car-free day, the Gurgaon police arranged for more than 400 buses to help people travel to work. Virk flagged off the day by cycling to work himself.

Many travelled by the metro. Some took autos, some cycled. The Rapid Metro, to help bring in the initiative, increased the number of trips it usually makes. "Usually the metro runs every five minutes; today, we brought it down to once every three minutes," said a Rapid Metro spokesperson, adding that they saw a sharp increase in the metro traffic on Tuesday.

Several corporate houses welcomed the move, including DLF City, Nagarro Software Private Limited, and Dentsu, to name a few. Shri Ram School, too, asked parents and students to comply by not bringing cars to the school.

Advertising professional Jharna Kakoti, 31, said that her office, located in Cyber Hub, sent a circular encouraging employees to use alternate modes of travel. "We saw a fairly huge difference on the roads. Many of my colleagues travelled by the metro," said the Lajpat Nagar resident. "Some brought cars, and were stopped by the police. The police asked them to use the metro the next time."

Gurgaon's flailing traffic problem has made headlines in the past. The city, where a host of corporate houses have offices, is known to have traffic that stretches kilometres. People who live there, or those who travel, complained that the city can have better public transport.

Marketing executive Abinash Bhattacharjee, 32, said that around his office, many people flouted the rules. His office is situated at Huda City Centre. "I usually bring the car, but did not bring it to work today, because of the campaign. But, the roads were not free, the service lanes parallel to the main roads were full of traffic," said Abinash.

Management employee Bornalee Goswami, 28, said that the initiative found few takers. "There are not many alternative modes. Autos in Gurgaon charge a lot," she said. "One cannot cycle all the way from South Delhi to work."

Virk said that the initiative need to be welcomed by people to continue. "We will see how people react to it, and will then decide on whether we will continue it periodically," he said. Virk said that the initiative could be extended to other cities if the traffic cops know whom to target their campaign at. "Any place needs a homogenous group of people. We knew who our motorists were, and so it was easy," he said.