New Delhi:
Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government has announced a grand plan to curb the pollution levels in Delhi. According to the plan, private cars would be allowed on the city’s roads only on alternate days from 1-15 January, 2016, alternatively based on even-odd car plate numbers.
This odd-even formula will define that which car you can drive on a particular date. On even dates only the cars with license plates ending with an even number will be allowed and on odd dates, cars with license plates ending with an odd number will be allowed.
Soon after he announced this plan, Kejriwal and his government came under attack not only by Opposition but they had to face the wrath of common man. Delhi citizens now question Mr. Kejriwal about how will he accomodate the daily commuters in the already overburdened public transport?
Though women, top politicians, judges, police, prison officials and sick people, motorbikes and scooters would be exempted from this rule. But there will still be a large number of people which are expected to throng the public transportation.
New Nation heads out for a reality check of public tranport in Delhi. Our wide coverage has an inclusion of Delhi metro, DTC cluster buses, auto-rickshaws, e-rickshaws, EMUs and Delhi Local Trains connecting the city to adjoining and NCR area.
Metro
Delhi’s lifeline metro serves the capital and its satellite cities including Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Ghaziabad in the NCR region. Its frequency, safety and comfort makes it one of the most preferred public transportation in the capital.
Soon after the implementation of even-odd drive, it will put even more pressure on the already overcrowded metros in the city. Here are the videos shot and pictures taken which show the uncountable number of commuters swarming the metro inside and out.
Buses
DTC cluster buses also share a major chunk of commuters when it comes to daily commute. People prefer buses for quick travel. These cluster buses are already burdened with innumerable commuters on a daily basis.
What would be the situation if Kejriwal’s even-odd formula comes into force? We took a bus from Maharani Bagh to Badarpur Border, such is the condition of the buses, and they are fully packed with commuters, even on odd hours of 12 noon. The video clearly shows how overcrowded regular are?
Here you will see how the students are trying to catch the bus by running.
Delhi-NCR (EMU) Locals
This medium of transportation is often ignored in discussions and debates. Majorly pink collar workers avail this mode of transport. Thousands of people take Delhi locals for commuting on a daily basis. We took a ride in the EMUs to get a first hand account of how difficult it is to board the train with so much of pushing and shoving. Mostly people commuting between Ghaziabad and Delhi take this local train. An insight into the lifeline of the national capital.
Auto and E-Rickshaws
To have a reality check at auto-rickshaws in Delhi, we went to Hauz Khas area. Hauz Khas metro station which is a quite crowded metro station due to the presence of three educational institues including IIT Delhi, IIMC and JNU. Autos are the last door vehicles which is an indispensible part of public transportation.
We travlled to an area where we found many students who travel by auto on a daily basis. During peak hours, it is extremely difficult to travel in a shared auto with too little space to sit and move. Additionally their frequency is too slow, sometimes the people have to wait for about 10-20 minutes for getting an auto to reach the place.
People hanging from the back doors of the vehicles is a common sight. On the other hand, e-rickshaws have also become popular lately in the city among the people.
We had a conversation with Ursila Ali, a 23 year-old IIT student who says that it is quite troublesome to reach her college in time by shared auto.
Watch video below to get an overview of how auto-rickshaw and e-rickshaws are fully packed with people
