Odd-Even brings hassle-free commute to working women

First day of New Year has been quite an interesting experience for Delhites

It is peak hour on the Metro on Friday morning. At 10 am on any working day the ladies coach would be choc-a-block, women jostling for a toehold, nerves frayed and tempers short. Today, the coach is less crowded and occasional peals of laughter and animated conversation abound from office-goers. There is even some giggling from the groups of young women headed to Connaught Place to hang out on New Year’s Day. The first day of driving restrictions has been an interesting experience for women in Delhi.

Mridula Dubey is pleased. “It feels like a Sunday,” she exclaims. Dubey, from Ayodhya and living in Delhi for several years now, commutes daily to her office in Connaught Place with her husband on his motorcycle. Today she decided to take the Metro. “It almost feels like I am in a developed country. Broad, empty roads, no traffic jams, the Metro is not crowded, that too in peak hour. I am all for this odd-even scheme,” she adds.  

But Rashmi, a teacher at the municipal corporation school in Dallupura in Vasundhara Enclave is not so enthusiastic. She commutes daily from Uttam Nagar to Ashok Nagar and concedes that her hour-long Metro ride was quite pleasant. However, her husband and family, she says, are being inconvenienced by this “odd-even business”.   

Taking a break from her daily schedule Ananya Chatterjee, who works at the US embassy, chose to celebrate New Year’s Day with her family and friends in Chandni Chowk’s famous Parathewali Gali. Chatterjee says she and her friends were not deterred by the prospect of crowded public transport. “I am a single woman, so I have no restrictions in the odd-even rule. I usually drive every day, but I chose to take the Metro.” Chatterjee apprehends the experiment could become chaotic from Monday when everyone returns from holidays and needs to get to work. “But this is a good idea, we should have started it 20 years ago,” she asserts.

Some other women, too, have decided to make the most of their ‘holiday’. Anu and her friend Swati are software engineers in Noida but their destination today is Chhatarpur. Swati is happy it was quite easy getting an autorickshaw to the Metro station, a difficult feat around 9 am on any other day.   

Even a disgruntled Sonali — she has an even number registration plate on her car — who had to take a taxi to work at ITO, admits the empty roads ensured she made it from Vaishali in 22 minutes. It normally takes her double that time. The driver of the taxi service said his drive from Rohini to Vaishali “was a dream”.

Connaught Place, a happening spot on New Year’s Day, is “not as crowded”, swears every other person. It is lunch time, one of the oldest restaurants in the area United Coffee House has no queues outside its door. The staff admit footfalls have been affected. On New Year’s Day there should have been people scrambling for tables. But there is just the usual daily rush.

Sanjeev Choudhury, an insurance agent, is strolling in the inner circle of Connaught Place with his wife and teenage son. He has “never experienced the joy” of being in CP on January 1. “It is always so crowded. But this year, it has been a dream. We did not have to apply brakes even once all the way from Karol Bagh. There were no traffic jams.”

While women in the capital, by and large, gave a thumbs up to the initiative, fears remained about the traffic situation from Monday when offices will reopen.