JOIN USLaunched in November 2008, it has been six months since Bangalore traffic police partnered with a radio channel and CommuteEasy to spread the word about the effectiveness of car-pooling.
At a press conference organised to celebrate the success of the initiative called ‘Lets Pool In’, dignitaries like theatre personality Arundhati Nag; Bangalore Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari; Additional CP (Traffic) Praveen Sood; Country Manager, HP, Srihari Gopinath, and station head Shyju Varkey had car-pooled on the way to the venue and reached on time. “That is the beauty of car pooling, we always complain about the traffic but it’s about time we take up such citizen initiatives and work towards a better environment,” said Arundhati Nag. An opinion that many of the dignitaries shared.
“The safety and comfort of Bangaloreans is at the top of traffic department’s priority list and that is why we always support ‘out-of-the-box’ solutions like this. Car-pooling is beneficial in many ways and with more and more people becoming a part of the initiative, it will soon be part of the ethos of the City,” added Shankar Bidari.
Praveen Sood went on to say how satisfying it was to know that the citizens themselves were taking such an effort. “It’s very rare that one gets a win-win situation, when it comes to traffic. Car pooling has truly turned out to be a great solution towards traffic congestion,” he added.
Very soon, the Bangalore Traffic Police would be reaching out to 50,000 children in various schools in the City and initiating traffic education through books and lectures. “We have to catch them young. We can also educate the auto drivers, bus drivers and even those coming to get their licenses about traffic norms. But it is the youth that we plan to target and hopefully when the schools re-open, more schools would agree with us and help the police spread awareness on traffic,” said Praveen.
To be part of the initiative, one can register at www.commuteeasy.com and search for people with common destinations. The facility will soon be made available to schools, colleges, hospitals with staff working on shifts and other office-goers who share the same route where transport facility is not provided.