As traffic chokes Hyderabad, police plans odd-even and carpooling in city

HYDERABAD: After Delhi, the odd-even arrangement could soon hit Hyderabad's streets too. Also on the cards is carpooling - a concept popular in many other metros of India. Speaking about it during the Hyderabad commissionerate's annual press conference on Friday, police commissioner K Sreenivasa Reddy said the police are toying with the idea at the moment, to address traffic issues, but are yet to work out the modalities."Carpooling is used in Delhi and Mumbai...Maybe its time to think about odd-even system here as well, at least on some routes," Sreenivasa Reddy said, adding, "I would like to tell the citizens of Hyderabad that the carpooling system in Mumbai is one of the best, followed by that of Delhi's. Bengaluru is also picking up but this city does not care about it yet. I think it's time to think about carpooling as it saves a lot of resources."H e, however, remained non-committal about timelines for its implementation and said all stakeholders will be consulted before an decision is made in this regard. “We are conducting some research at the moment to see how we can ease traffic flow without causing any further trouble to commuters. Also, when we test any new system, there are going to be teething issues in the beginning. But once the system falls in place, it will be helpful,” the commissioner added. In 2023, Hyderabad saw a staggering 16,150 vehicles being added to its vehicle population. As on October 31, the total number of vehicles registered in the city stands at 85.5 lakh as against the 42.2 lakh in 2014. Hyderabad city has a road network of 290.9 km. The proposal evoked mixed responses from experts in the city. “The amount of particulate matter and other harmful gases that are released by vehicles is one of the major contributors of air pollution in the city. There is a correlation between traffic and pollution. If traffic decreases then air and noise pollution will definitely drop significantly. These measures will also give a push to adoption of electric vehicles,” said Sachin Chaudhary, environmental researcher at IIIT Hyderabad. Those like Prashant Bachu, aren’t so sure just yet. “These are short-term measures. It might ease the traffic but only for a brief period of time. Also, when Delhi applied this rule, they exempted women, elderly, taxis and electric vehicles, so if Hyderabad plans to offer similar exemptions, we may only see minimal change for a short duration,” said the public transport and traffic expert. A better option according to him is to have another 10,000 buses in the city and enhance the frequency of metro trains