Hyderabad: The ‘Car free Thursdays’ campaign starting in Cyberabad from August 6 will see more RTC buses on important routes during peak hours. The frequency will be one bus every two to five minutes.
Apart from the 370 buses running now in the corridor, 62 additional buses (totalling 3,678 trips) will be operated on special routes on Thursdays. The campaign launched by HYSEA will have ‘I do not drive this car on Thursday’ stickers for IT employees and selfie cutouts that will be taken to various IT companies. The campaign targets the 25 per cent IT professionals who use cars.
The HYSEA campaign has the support of NGOs working for car pooling, car pooling companies, cycling enthusiasts and industry associations apart from TSRTC. The initiative is aimed at reducing the number of vehicles on the roads, solve parking problems as well as reduction of pollution. To join the campaign one can opt for other modes of transport like bus, MMTS, carpool, cycling or walking.
The campaign is being supported by the Cyberabad Security Council, the IT department, transport department, IT industry associations, the TSRTC, car pooling companies and NGOs like Act Carpool, Zify, Itfan, Embarq India, Identcity and ones like RideIT and Cykul that promote cycling.
“Hyderabad has to contain automobile pollution and we have to move to the concept of group commuting. However, alternative transport requires public transport and RTC has to ensure that additional buses are run on time. In fact, this idea emerged from the public itself as they felt the need for it,” said transport commissioner Sandeep Kumar Sultania, at a conference in the city. During the conference, a website for ‘Car Free Thursday’ and the Car Free Thursday Logo was launched.
Meanwhile, IT department secretary Jayesh Ranjan said the initiative aims to make Cyberabad the best place to work and live. He requested IT companies to participate in the initative and said that during peak hours it is not possible to go beyond 7 to 8 km an hour in the area. He said the car free drive will be an answer to these problems.
