AHMEDABAD: The average car ownership of Ahmedabad has gone up from 23 to 24 per 1,000 individuals a decade ago to 50 per 1,000, according to the preliminary survey of 5,000 households conducted as part of the ‘Mobilse Your City’ plan, a project undertaken by the Indian and French governments for the Ahmedabad metropolitan region.
The survey is to cover 15,000 households in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, but the preliminary report has set alarm bells ringing for civic planners, police and the revenue department, representatives of which had gathered at the Ahmedabad Management Association to form a comprehensive mobility plan for Ahmedabad for the year 2030. Non-motorised transport trips, such use of bicycles, have come drastically to just 3% of total trips from 9% in 2011.
“This phenomenon is noticed largely in the eastern part of the city, which had a high density of bicycle riders. The dip is alarming. There is too much reliance on personal transport while use of public transport has fallen over the years. This has to be reversed,” said a senior AMC official at the meeting. Walking has come down to 38% of the 5,000 households surveyed, from 41% a decade ago.
In road accidents, Ahmedabad registered four fatalities per one lakh people. In developed countries, this number is just one. The mobility plan is being jointly developed by city police, AMC, AUDA, Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC), GUDA and RTO along with CEPT University and Transitec of France.
Senior officials from the traffic police and Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) pointed out several accident blackspots on SG Road, SP Ring Road and in the Naroda and Kalupur areas. The preliminary accident data shared at the meeting highlighted the fact that the share of two-wheelers and cars road fatalities now exceeds those caused by heavy vehicles such as trucks or buses.
“Also when a survey of the road fatality victims was conducted. It was found that two-wheeler riders apart from pedestrians were both victims and also increasingly involved in road accidents, which was alarming,” the AMC official said.
