Friday, January 01, 2016

India to Try Car Rationing in Bid to Tackle Air Pollution

India's capital is starting the new year with an experiment designed to reduce the city's record-breaking air pollution.

Beginning Friday, cars with odd-numbered license place will be allowed on New Delhi streets on odd-numbered days.  Cars with even-numbered plates will be allowed on even numbered days.

The two-week trial, which ends January 15, is designed to limit the number of private cars on the capital's streets.

Drivers seemed to be following the rules Friday.  However, skeptics said with schools and some offices closed because of the New Year's holiday, the capital has yet to get a real idea of how motorists will adhere to the restrictions.

"This plan will only be successful when it becomes a very big movement, when people will want to obey it from their heart," said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who promised that he and his ministers would carpool.

A number of exemptions to the odd-even deal are in place, including for women drivers and people on motorbikes.

A 2014 World Health Organization survey identified New Delhi as the world's most polluted city, partly because of the millions of vehicles clogging the city's streets.
  voanews.com

1/1/16
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2 comments:

  1. Authorities in the Indian capital, Delhi, have launched major restrictions on private cars to curb alarming levels of pollution.

    Private cars with even and odd number plates are being allowed on alternate days from Friday in an initial two-week trial.

    Emergency vehicles like ambulances, police cars, fire engines and taxis have been exempted from the order.

    Delhi has experienced hazardous levels of pollution this winter.

    The local government announced the scheme after a court ordered authorities to tackle pollution levels more than 10 times the World Health Organisation's safe limits.

    Exemptions

    The government has made several exemptions to make it easier for people to follow the restrictions. The plan will be imposed between 8am and 8pm from Monday to Saturday.

    Women will be allowed to drive their cars on all days but they can only be accompanied by women, and children below the age of 12. Cars carrying disabled people will also be allowed on all days.

    Along with two wheelers, cars operating on natural gas have been exempted. In cases of medical emergency, people will not be stopped from taking patients to hospitals.

    The government has hired around 3,000 private buses to provide shuttle services into the city from residential areas to ease the extra pressure on the public transport network.

    Schools have been also shut until the trial ends on 15 January so that their buses can be used as public transport.

    The government has launched an app that people can use to book tuk-tuks to improve last-mile connectivity from the Metro stations.....BBC
    1/1/16

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    1. New Delhi expérimente la circulation alternée pour mieux respirer...

      (Belga) Les rues de New Delhi étaient interdites vendredi à plus d'un million de véhicules privés, au premier jour de l'expérimentation osée de la circulation alternée dans la capitale la plus polluée au monde.

      Cette mesure radicale, qui avait été annoncée début décembre, pourrait cependant tarder à porter ses fruits, dans l'hypothèse où elle est respectée. D'autant que l'automobile n'est pas la seule responsable du smog qui étouffe New Delhi. L'indice de la qualité de l'air dans la capitale indienne publié par l'ambassade des Etats-Unis affichait encore vendredi la valeur inquiétante de "429", soit un niveau qualifié de "dangereux" qui implique que les enfants et les personnes à risque doivent rester chez eux. Des centaines de policiers et volontaires étaient déployés pour contrôler la mise en oeuvre de cette expérimentation, dans une ville où le code de la route, en temps normal, est allègrement contourné. Jusqu'au 15 janvier, les véhicules privés dotés de plaques d'immatriculation impaires rouleront les jour impairs et les autres les jours pairs......rtl.be
      1/1/16

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