GET out of your car and walk, was the message from both Communications Minister Averoff Neophytou and Nicosia Mayor Lellos Demetriades yesterday.
Neophytou and Demetriades were plugging a new drive to relieve traffic congestion in Nicosia by boosting public transport while creating disincentives for in-town private car use.
A relevant study carried out jointly by local consultants G C Hadjicostas and Austrian experts Axis Ingenieurleistungen was unveiled yesterday.
Minister Neophytou said the study showed that for many in-town car journeys, choosing the walking option could save both time and money while cutting congestion and pollution.
“A significant aspect from the study is that it shows that one in three car trips taken every day in the Nicosia area cover a distance of about 1.3 kilometres, and the second significant thing is that for these routes the average speed developed by a private vehicle is about 6km/h,” he said.
“If we go on foot, we go at 5km/h, so for a third of all trips we do by car, if we went on foot we would arrive in the same time without the trouble created by the car, without the stress endured in the car and we would avoid many bad impacts from over-use of the private car,” the minister said.
Mayor Demetriades made a similar point.
“I believe the problem is that we do not have the standard we should have in public transport, but the other thing is that our attitude has to change. There is no doubt that we have a strange attitude, we cannot walk, we do not think of walking anywhere,” the mayor said.
Demetriades said the Hadjicostas-Axis study, the final version of which will be ready in October, proposed both long and short-term solutions to the capital’s traffic gridlock. The mayor, who is keen to bring trams to Nicosia, stressed the importance of providing people with an alternative to the car.
“The study shows that we can take some immediate measures, such as getting strict on parking, given that we do provide some alternatives,” he said.
Minister Neophytou predicted the congestion problem would be cracked.
“The big challenge for the next five years is to make it easier for citizens to move about in built-up areas. We are certain that we will achieve this aim in constructive co-operation with local government and with our consultants and associates,” he said.
He noted that relieving traffic jams was not just about stemming pollution and making towns more pleasant to live in. He said there was money to be saved too. “In 1989, experts said £10 million a year was being wasted due to congestion. The figure is now probably double that,” the Minister said.
If the decongestion plan works for the capital, then the plan is to try it in Limassol, Larnaca and Paphos too.
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