AHMEDABAD: A large proportion of Amdavadis walk and cycle to work everyday. Today, a large percentage of road accident victims in this city are also cyclists and pedestrians.
On Saturday, municipal commissioner D Thara presented the latest numbers concerning the city’s road users. There city has a vehicle population of 33 lakh. Almost 74% of these are two wheelers.
However, of the 67 lakh registered population in the city, 38% of people walk, while 59.6% of Amdavadis cycle, walk and use public transport to reach their destinations. Almost 9% of Amdavadis, which is almost three lakh people, cycle to work and back. Yet there is no credible infrastructure that meets even the basic requirements of cyclists.
At Happy Streets, supported by TOI-NGS partnered by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and City Traffic police, on CG Road every Sunday one can experience the real joys of cycling, walking and coming to the venue using public transport or by car pooling. The street here is the destination.
“In 2012, the city added 6.9 lakh two wheelers, while in 2014 there were 16 lakh new two wheelers. In 2012, there were 1.2 lakh new cars hitting Ahmedabad roads and this number was 2.8 lakh in 2014. The numbers are surely going to increase further. Why do we forget that the space on our roads is limited? Public transport and non-motorized transport is the future of transportation,” says Thara.
Walkability Asia 
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