How about making car-free day a movement?

Public transport is catching on in Dubai and across the UAE. Car-free day was again a success, and in its ninth year, has spread to other emirates as well — a welcome development in the campaign against pollution and traffic congestion. But should such campaigns be limited to just one day, we wonder. How about extending it to a week to see the results kick in? Annual car-free days have come and gone with the customary ditching of cars by government officials and departments, but are yet to become a movement. In fact, we should make it a way of life. Our lives depend on cleaner air, so limiting such efforts to one day may help raise some awareness. Well begun, but there’s a long way to go. What we need are comprehensive solutions.

Which raises several questions, the chief among them being how many residents can afford to make it on time to work daily without a car? Second is the issue of connectivity between emirates. Dubai has developed an efficient metro system, but the benefits are yet to reach people living in other emirates. Unless the metro is extended to other cities, traffic gridlocks will continue. Authorities are, meanwhile, upgrading the road infrastructure, which is only luring more people to buy bigger, fuel-guzzling cars. Third, cars must be made less attractive to buyers. This means making them dearer and involves introduction of steeper taxes and insurance charges while setting up more road tolls like Salik. Business and commercial interests must be factored in before these measures are implemented. Even if they are imposed, fuel prices are relatively inexpensive in the country and there are less incentives for more people to clamber aboard public transport. Fourth, there’s the weather, with hotter days outnumbering cooler seasons. This year’s car-free day saw 60,000 cars off the roads. That’s not enough. The private sector must be roped in to make it a bigger success next year. And we don’t mean for just one day. Let’s extend it to a week or more and start a car-free movement.