KOCHI: In a move to make the city pollution-free, the administration of Kochi's Ernakulam district on Friday declared the first Friday of every month as 'public transport day', a step to encourage people to use public transport system for commuting.
As part of the Public Transport Day, the officers including the District Collector K Mohammed Y Safirulla, switched to the public transport modes for commuting to work.
"We request the people to take the public transports like buses or metro. This not only helps us to reduce traffic but also in reducing the pollution," said Safirulla.
He said that over a period of time, this is the only way how sustainable growth of the city can be done. He also urged the young population to choose public transports over bikes and cars.
The administration is also trying to bring some training methodology for the bus drivers and conductors, to teach them about driving etiquette for passengers.
"The Kochi metro serves about 35000 passengers every day. It has greatly helped us in avoiding peak time congestions and I hope more people will commute on metros," Safirulla told ANI.
The implementation of the public transport system will help to reduce the fuel consumption rates as the people will not be using personal transport modes.
Moreover, the traffic congestion's will also be reduced to the minimum.