A first for Gurgaon: Better air quality, less traffic on car-free Tuesday

Four corridors which see the heaviest traffic in the city were identified to implement the initiative — DLF Cyber City, the stretch from Huda City Centre to Subhash Chowk, Golf Course Road and Electronic City in Udyog Vihar.

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Traffic in these corridors was smooth, with an overall reduction of 25-30 per cent cars in all corridors, said one of the event organisers, Sarika Panda Bhatt (Manager City and Transport) Embarq India.

The pre and post air quality surveys done by Embarq India also showed a 21 per cent reduction in PM 2.5 emissions in DLF Cyber City area — which sees over 30,000 commercial and private vehicles on a working day.

Even though the first car-free day evoked a mixed response from commuters, the administration called it a huge success. With fewer cars on the roads and an increase in ridership of buses, metro trains and other modes of public transport, Gurgaon looked much wider and decongested.

Sources said IT companies such as Nagarro Software Pvt Ltd, which employs over 2,500 people, went completely car-free. The company asked its employees to not use cars and only use public transport.

Shuttl.com, which operated 150 shuttle buses on Tuesday, recorded a ridership of 3,198 people on all car free routes — an increase of 1.7 times of their regular ridership numbers in peak hours.

Also, the number of people availing shuttle services from Sikanderpur metro station went up from 500 to 1,000.
Meanwhile, the Gurgaon Traffic police towed 46 vehicles that were parked on roads meant to be ‘car-free’. “Vehicles were towed away from MG road and DLF Cyber City. Many commercial car drivers park their vehicles here and leave, creating massive traffic snarls. All of them were fined Rs 300,” said a senior traffic officer.

Even parking lots at metro stations saw less vehicles as compared to a regular working day. The parking lot at IFFCO Chowk metro station, which generally accommodates 700 vehicles, saw only 400 vehicles on Tuesday. Similarly, HUDA City Centre metro station’s parking area saw only 300 vehicles as compared to 600 vehicles on other days.

Schools also participated in the initiative. Sources said over 95 per cent of students studying in Scottish International School came on bicycles or took the bus. Staff cars in Shri Ram School reduced from 118 to 30.

“The first car-free Day in Gurgaon was more than successful. From early morning, a number of people  could be seen cycling to work. A lot of people participated in the initiative by opting to use shuttles and car pools…,” said Gurgaon police commissioner Navdeep Singh Virk.

The commissioner too cycled from Huda City Centre metro station. “The next car-free day will be observed next month. We will include more roads and more areas,” he added.

However, commuters travelling from Delhi to Gurgaon said they got caught in traffic snarls in Cyber City and Udyog Vihar Phase IV — two of the four corridors identified as no-parking zones.