HYDERABAD: Those living in Cyberabad should think twice before taking their cars out today. Starting from today, Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (HYSEA), along with the Telangana government are officially introducing ‘Car Free Thursdays’ in the city’s IT corridor, in a bid to ease congestion and reduce pollution.
The idea of this initiative is to encourage people not to drive their private vehicles and instead take public transport, bike, walk and carpool to work, every Thursday. The initiative is voluntary. It has several partners, such as RideIT, Zify, Cykul and Zupp, among others, who encourage people to carpool or cycle to work.
“Our analysis revealed that 59 per cent of the people in Hyderabad use public transport, while 41 per cent use private vehicles. In the IT corridor, 20 to 25 per cent of the people come to work in cars. If we can stop cars just once a week and encourage people to use other modes of transport, it would make a world of difference,” said Ramesh Loganathan, president, HYSEA.
Several IT companies have joined hands with HYSEA. It is also partnering with TSRTC on a trial basis.
Currently, there are 370 buses operating in the IT corridor and 3678 trips are made everyday. TSRTC will deploy 62 additional buses, with a frequency of two to five minutes, every Thursday to help people use alternative transportation and decongest the city. “It is for a social cause We will observe how the initiative takes off and review after six to eight weeks and then decide about taking it to other parts of the city,” said Purushotham Naik, executive director, TSRTC.
