Tuesday, September 29, 2015

City pulls out all stops for second Car-Free Day

Times of India: "Due to a lack of lanes (and safety), many might still be reluctant to cycle to work, but Virk urged Gurgaonites to use public transport or car-pools. "Gurgaon Police has organised additional public transport, parking places and cycle lanes in the four selected corridors." He said that 600 cops will be manning the city roads for an orderly Car-Free Day. "

Monday, September 28, 2015

#Carfree days show that buses are lacking

gurgaon Hindustan Times: "“The public transport spectrum in Gurgaon ranges from world-class metro to shared diesel-run autorickshaws that pollute the environment. The missing piece is the availability of a high quality city bus system that will form the backbone of public transportation. It is essential for a city like Gurgaon to have good intra-city bus service,” said Amit Bhatt, strategy head, integrated urban transport at EMBARQ India."

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Bus, autos, Metro roped in to make next Car-Free Tuesday a success

The Times of India: ""We intend to reach out to maximum people this time and involve more residents. We need to provide them more alternatives. Therefore, this time we want to ensure everybody is able to conveniently avail public transport. All arrangements are being done based on people's feedback," said Bharti Arora, joint commissioner of police."

Hyderabad: 10,000 fewer vehicles on #carfree Thursdays.

'Car-Free Day' Initiative Finds Many Takers in IT City: ""Since the launch of the campaign, most companies in the IT corridor reported reduction of up to 10-20 per cent of cars on Thursdays. An average of 10,000 motor vehicles is reduced each Thursday," Hyderabad Software Exports Association (HYSEA) President Ramesh Loganathan said."

Thursday, September 24, 2015

#carfree days catching on in India as traffic chokes economy

Indian Express: "Following in Gurgaon’s footsteps, the Delhi government has declared the stretch between Red Fort and India Gate ‘car-free’ on October 22. The Gurgaon administration declared every Tuesday a car-free day, the first of which was observed today."

Monday, September 21, 2015

Public transport drive planned to make air clean

Times of India: "Rai said the government campaign will not only focus on getting citizens involved but will also discuss initiatives being taken by the state to improve the public transport situation in the capital. The minister cited the new scheme, the City Taxi Scheme, which is aimed at reducing the number of private vehicles on the capital's streets by providing more intermediate public transport at "reasonable" rates.
"

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Car-free roads, beyond tokenism

deccanherald: "Open Streets: Two buzzwords to rid roads of motorised private vehicles for a day, boosting public transport and freeing up space for walkers and cyclists. For motorists trapped hopelessly in chaotic traffic gridlocks, the concept might sound Utopian; yet, worth a try."

Going car-free is the new karma in Gurgaon

Times of India: "But this crazy idea managed to do the impossible. It drilled into people's consciousness the need to care for the environment, the need to ditch cars and embrace sustainable transport. On Friday, joint commissioner of police (Traffic) Bharti Arora cycled to work. Meanwhile, Gurgaon DC, T L Satyaprakash, is a frequent — and eager — user of the bike. A fair number of CEOs of Gurgaon-based companies ride their bikes to work — Nagarro, in fact, has gone completely car free."

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Bring large buses for public transportation

Kathmandu Post: "Sep 16, 2015- Travelling on public transportation is a tremendous challenge in Kathmandu as it is always crowded. It is estimated that there are around 4 million people crammed in the valley. According to National Population and Housing Nepal 2011, Kathmandu district has the highest population density in the country of 4,416 people per square kilometre."

Poor public transportation drives two-wheeler sales

Kathmandu Post: "Sep 16, 2015- Sales of two-wheelers have seen a continuous growth in countries with poor public transportation as convenience and mobility are basic needs of the people. Although motorcycle sales dropped in 2013-14 due to a disruption in the issuance of driving licences from various parts of the country, the registration of two-wheelers jumped 34.88 percent in the last fiscal year."

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Gurgaon to introduce ‘car-free’ Tuesdays

The Indian Express: "Taking inspiration from Hyderabad — which has successfully kept its roads car-free every Thursday — the administration will promote use of Metro, Rapid Metro, cycle-rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, shared cabs and pooled cars every Tuesday. No parking on roads will be allowed and no pick and drop facilities will be allowed in the five locations."

Monday, September 14, 2015

Harsh #degrowth in India, while resources wasted on car culture

Jakarta Post: "The scale of the problem was thrown into relief recently when 75,000 people, including qualified engineers, applied for 30 jobs with the Chhattisgarh state government as "peons", whose duties traditionally include fetching tea and other menial tasks.

The department head called the numbers "surreal" and said he had expected between 2,000 and 3,000 applicants.

Millions of workers in the private sector plan to strike on Wednesday to protest against low pay and a lack of job security.

Among them are thousands of hawkers or self-employed street sellers who say they are not seeing the fruits of India's growth.

"The youth of this country are aspirational, they want jobs," said Dharmendra Kumar, president of the Hawkers' Federation.

"We are seeing a phenomenon of de-growth in the formal sector... the only option for people is to move to the unorganised, informal sector through self-employment.""