Blurb:
The car is a very convenient vehicle for travel and beats all other modes of transport, but it is also one of the chief causes of pollution. The world over, it is estimated that vehicles in general contribute 30 per cent of greenhouse gases.
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It has finally dawned on traffic managers, the police and vehicle users that the ubiquitous four-wheeler is the chief cause of congestion and traffic snarls. The car is a very convenient vehicle for travel and beats all other modes of transport, but it is also one of the chief causes of pollution. The world over it is estimated that vehicles in general contribute 30 per cent of greenhouse gases. A NASA study listed the transport sector as the chief culprit of global warming. This Tuesday Gurgaon joined 200 cities across the globe in observing a car-free day. About 10,000 cars went off the streets and the result was less congestion and a reduction in pollution levels by 21 per cent.
It's not rocket science. Cars might be convenient but the space occupied per person is just too huge and as the economy grows and more people buy four-wheelers the problem gets worse. Parking is a related problem along with pollution and cities, instead of becoming places for business and recreation, turn into tedious areas where vehicle owners compete with each other for space.
The bus, tram or metro are still the best forms of transporting commuters from one place to the next, but they can be inconvenient. Public transport is plagued by several issues like punctuality, comfort and ease of travel. Unless these issues are sorted out, people will continue to use cars as a personal form of transport. The larger problems lies with governments which are reluctant to antagonize car owners or clueless on how to resolve the problem.
The movement to keep cars off the roads is gaining momentum across the world. Awareness of global warming and an understanding that the only way out is by restricting entry of cars or have car-free days. The car-free movement is about 20 years old and after the first decade which was from 1994 to 2004, activists were wondering if they had achieved anything. The car-free day was initially meant to be the first step of a larger movement towards nudging people into using public transport. This goal has not yet been reached and will be achieved only when use of cars starts dropping in response to a better and more efficient public transport system.
The general response to the increase in vehicle population is to increase road lengths and widths. Goa is presently constructing a third bridge across the Mandovi river and will invest up to Rs 2,757 crores to construct an eight-lane bridge across the Zuari with elevated roads on both sides. The cost of keeping up with cars is enormous and the money could have been spent on improving public transport, instead. We have resorted to moving the seat of government and schools outside Panaji to decongest it and a proposal to reclaim the army barracks to make more room for parking is on the table. Making more room for cars is not a solution to the problem. Car-free days are a means to an end, but the real challenge lies in making public transport more efficient.
