Pune completes test run of pedestrian-only zone

As a step towards returning the city’s streets back to its residents, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), India, organised a week-long trial, where a stretch 1.5 kilometres in the Aundh region of Pune city was converted into a pedestrian-only zone.

During the trial, one half of the street catered to one-way vehicular traffic while the other was converted into a pedestrian-and-cyclist-only zone. On the whole, the trial met with great success, with some residents hoping the change would be permanent. Despite this success in terms of usage, the project left the citizens divided.

“While one group of residents enjoyed the mock pedestrian plaza as it helped them reclaim the otherwise car-dominated street and added space for other social activities like playing and hanging out to talk, another small group remained unconvinced,” Pranjali Deshpande-Agashe, Program Manager (Maharashtra), ITDP, told Cities Today. “This included the small shopkeepers and local businessmen, who were of the opinion that business was affected because of the reduction in parking. This belief stems from the general notion that shopping is a car-based affair rather than a pedestrian activity.”

During the trial, kiosks were set up at different spots where people could fill out feedback forms. One of the consultant firms for the project, McKinsey & Company, is currently compiling the results from the feedback and assessment.

ITDP, along with project partners Prasanna Desai Architects, IBI Group, Pavetech Consultants, McKinsey & Company and CEE, is proposing a stakeholders’ discussion for Pune Municipal Corporation to discover different perspectives, and find a middle ground between the residents that feel and understand the need for such a change and those who are currently opposed to it.

This is an important step as there are plans to make the pedestrian plaza permanent, under the Smart City proposal. It is thus paramount that PMC understands the needs of all parties involved and makes alterations to the proposal accordingly.

“If implemented on a long-term basis, the pedestrianised street would greatly contribute towards improving the quality of urban life in this region of Pune,” added Deshpande-Agashe. “In a city like Pune that is getting more congested by the day, more public open space is a much-needed intervention. The final aim of the pedestrian plaza is to facilitate a shift to walking and cycling as mainstream modes of commute.”

The city also recently launched the open data portal as a part of the Digital India Initiative, which will soon make Pune’s transport and traffic data freely accessible to all.