Most opt for bus, metro, carpool

Residents in Noida and Ghaziabad opted for various ways such as carpool and exchange of vehicles to deal with the odd-even road rationing scheme in force in Delhi. With a lot of people opting for public transport, traffic movement in the cities was smooth on Monday.

Residents in Noida and Ghaziabad opted for various ways such as carpool and exchange of vehicles to deal with the odd-even road rationing scheme in force in Delhi. With a lot of people opting for public transport, traffic movement in the cities was smooth on Monday.

Many residents in Noida said they used cabs on Monday. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

The second edition of the odd-even scheme came into force in the national capital on April 15.

In Noida, many opted for public transport facilities such as bus and metro, while others used private cabs.

Nitin Agarwal, a resident of Noida Sector 27, said he and his two friends decided to carpool to go to Chandni Chowk in Delhi. They met at Atta Market in Sector 18 on Monday morning and went together from there.

“We live in sectors near Atta Market and since we all go to work in Old Delhi (Chandni Chowk, Sadar Bazar, Kamla Market), we decided to carpool. We have one odd-number and two even-number cars. We have decided to carpool to travel to Delhi during the odd-even scheme,” said Aggarwal.

“We are engineers and are working on a project near AIIMS in Delhi. We opted for carpooling,” said Mohak. He said he and his friends will carpool or use metro or bus till the odd-even scheme is in force in Delhi.

“The traffic movement was smooth in the morning. Earlier, we noticed some commuters waiting at the borders (Chilla and Kalindi Kunj) for the restrictions in Delhi to get over,” said Dharmendra Singh Yadav, traffic inspector, Gautam Budh Nagar.

According to Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) officials, the rush in the buses was normal.

“We were expecting rush in the buses but nothing unusual was noticed on Monday,” said SK Verma, assistant regional manager, UPSRTC Noida.

In Ghaziabad also, the traffic movement was smoother on Monday. Officials said there was nearly 30-40% less traffic on roads leading to the Delhi-Ghaziabad border on Monday morning.

“Like the first version of the odd-even formula in Delhi, our roads in Ghaziabad saw 30-40% less vehicles than normal days,” said Anil Kumar, traffic inspector.

Commuters also said that the traffic on Monday was less compared to other days.

“I thought there would be jams as the offices were opening after holidays. But the traffic movement was smooth,” said Sanjeev Sethi, an Indirapuram resident.

In Ghaziabad also, people opted for public transport facilities such as metro and bus. stations in Ghaziabad. However, commuters here were not very enthusiastic about carpool.

“As it is hot, commuters here do not prefer carpool. Most of our residents travelled by metro,” said Pramod Dhanked from the federation of apartment owners’ association at Raj Nagar Extension (RNE).