Cyberabad techies boarded state-owned city buses leaving their swanky cars at home on Thursday.

While IT honchos waved “Thank you for taking the bus” placards cheering their colleagues, others pledged that they would car pool or use public transport to ease congestion in the IT and Financial sectors of Cyberabad.

The “Car Free Thursday” is an initiative by the Telangana government, Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (Hysea) and other stakeholders to reduce the number of vehicles on road to free up space and also solve parking problem in the companies.

“We appreciate the tremendous support we have received from TSRTC (Telangana State Road Transport Corporation) in making this initiative possible by introducing 70 additional buses in the pilot routes,” said Ramesh Loganathan, Hysea president.

“We will continue to create awareness among the IT fraternity on this initiative and also build on the momentum,” he added.

For an industry which employs more than 3,50,000 people directly and about 70,000 indirectly, 41 per cent use private modes of transport and the remaining 59 per cent use buses, office transport, shared auto, cycle or walk to work.

It is estimated that 40,000 people use cars while 1,10,000 use motorcycles in the Hitec, Gachibowli, Madapur and Financial District areas. The aim is to reduce the number of motor vehicles by at least 15,000.

Meanwhile, the IT Department and Transport Commissioner of Telangana have unveiled alternative transport arrangements such as special AC buses, “She Shuttles” exclusively for women IT employees, and car-pooling.

While the Hyderabad Metro linking the four corners of the city will take 5 more years, alternative modes of transportation such as  car-pooling, cycling, MMTS (local railway service) and also walking to work will be promoted, officials added.