LONG-TERM VIEW: Environmentalists support City Hall’s car-free day but call for more to be done to limit or replace cars

KUALA LUMPUR: ENVIRONMENTALISTS are supporting City Hall's decision to make the first Sunday of each month car-free for a couple of hours, but are also urging for policies and projects to stay consistent.

Global Environment Centre director Faizal Parish said the car-free move has been tried and tested, and business owners should not worry.

"In Jakarta, the whole-day weekly ban on cars has proven to be very successful. They found more people coming into the city, with businesses doing better than previously. This was because no one was stuck in jams," he said.

Faizal, however, added that implementation of such a campaign must include equipping the city with a sound network of public transport, bicycle lanes and walkways that are accessible to all.

"One of the problems is bicycle lanes. Right now, if I was to cycle into KL, I might just be killed along the way," he said.

Centre for Environment, Technology and Development Malaysia chairman Gurmit Singh agreed, and added that any campaign to reduce "vehicular emissions" without a sound policy for replacing cars would end up falling flat.

"It will simply become a syok sendiri event, something like Le Tour De Langkawi," he said.

"The limited time of between 7.30am and 9.30am is too short a period, and way before the shops open. So what is the intended goal, if this is not targeted at the masses?"

He suggested City Hall instead choose one road and close it to motorised vehicles for a full day, or for at least 12 hours.

Gurmit said such a measure was already in place at Beach Street in Penang. He added that this move should not just stop here, but rather be the beginning of a bigger goal.

"Eventually, the authorities should step up further and extend the car-free road to entire zones, or even the city at large," he said.

"At the same time, for this campaign to be effective, there must be in tandem long-term plans to replace cars."

Gurmit said a blueprint for public transport involving all stakeholders, including the community and NGOs, should be drafted.

"This should not be from a top-down approach, with the authorities doing what they deem fit for reducing cars. And there must also be a commitment to a non-negotiable timeline for when it must be enforced," he said.

"The public, in the meanwhile, must be taught how to reform their unsustainable ways by replacing cars with using public transport, cycling and walking."

WWF Malaysia executive director Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma agreed that campaigns could not be successfully sustained without political will.

"If it's a one-off event or done in isolation without other concurrent changes, then it becomes just that -- an event. The public will also be disillusioned over why they alone are forced to sacrifice their luxuries when the authorities do not hold up their end, in terms of creating a good network of public transport," he said.

He, however, said that members of the public on their part must also empower themselves to make green demands.

"They must ask their elected government to work towards reducing vehicular carbon emissions," he said, adding that a national barometer on carbon emissions has to be identified and the results announced.

"While we await such a barometer, time is ticking against the government's pledge to reduce 40 per cent of greenhouse gases by 2020," he said.

"The relevant authorities and other stakeholders should be charged with coming up with such a barometer to measure the carbon emission index. Its findings must then be discussed with all stakeholders in the community, so that a joint effort can be made to help bring down emissions.

"This campaign, like Earth Hour in the beginning, is novel and symbolic of the national pledge to reduce emissions. Its mission is to play its part in challenging the unsustainable lifestyles of Malaysians and nurture green values."

For two hours on car-free day, cyclists like the one seen here will not need to contend with motorised vehicles on the roads of Kuala Lumpur. Pic by Muhd Zaaba Zakeria

Read more: 'Policy must not be half-hearted' - Central - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/streets/central/policy-must-not-be-half-hearted-1.456335#ixzz2prqVCMN0