Bengaluru: Pedestrianise, boost air quality

A survey responses show that 83% of visitors and 81% of shop owners were satisfied with improved air quality after pedestrianisation

The Quality of Life (QoL) assessment of pedestrianising Church Street was done using quantitative and qualitative indicators and covering the three main pillars of sustainability, i.e., environment, social and economic. A clear improvement in air quality was recorded on pedestrianised weekends, in terms of PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations, which were within limits set by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) under the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for most of the weekends.

Likewise, the Air Quality Index (AQI) assessed using the CPCB formula were within satisfactory and a good limit for most weekends. Hence, an overall improvement in air quality was observed due to the pedestrianisation of an urban street (this is an important result with respect to promoting low emission zones in the city).

The survey responses show that 83 per cent of visitors and 81 per cent of shop owners were satisfied with improved air quality after pedestrianisation. About 92 per cent increase in the average daily pedestrian footfall was observed between November 2020 and February 2021 (good for businesses).

Raised footfall

The raised footfall demonstrates the public awareness and enthusiasm to experience pedestrianised Church Street. Pedestrian Level of Service (PLOS) falls under category ‘A,’ i.e., pedestrians can move freely without interruptions for most pedestrianised weekends, indicating that the pedestrian environment has an ideal pedestrian condition.

Nearly 97 per cent of visitors and 84 per cent of shop owners interviewed expressed that they were happy with the overall service quality of the street after pedestrianisation. The survey results highlight that on many aspects of service quality, the perception among visitors and shop owners had improved substantially, merely because of pedestrianisation.

Indeed, even without making any changes in street infrastructure, the insight after pedestrianisation is truly good. Practically, 93 per cent of the respondents were satisfied with the street aesthetics of Church Street after pedestrianisation. Cleaner streets likewise enhanced the experience of Church Street visitors and retailers.

Also read: Pedestrians, an endangered population in Bengaluru

Business boost

On weekends during pedestrianisation, both garbage collection and sweeping were carried out mostly 8 to 10 times a day. Likewise, more than 50 per cent of restaurant owners and gift retailers of Church Street concurred that pedestrianisation prompted an increase in customer footfall, revenue, and overall positive effect on business.

Pedestrianisation had led to a 7 per cent reduction in the mode share of personal modes and an equivalent 7 per cent increase in the mode share of sustainable transport modes among the visitors while comparing with their mode choices before pedestrianisation (good strategy to promote sustainable modes).

Similarly, a 15 per cent decrease in the mode share of personal modes and an 11 per cent increase in the mode share of sustainable transport modes were observed among shop owners after pedestrianisation. Around 96 per cent of the visitors agreed that there is easy access to metro service.

Metro users rise

Well-connected metro service to Church Street had resulted in a 162 per cent increase in the number of metro users at MG Road metro station on pedestrianised weekends between November 2020 and February 2021 (very useful takeway in the context of TOD development in the city).

The predominant pull factors for the visitors were to spend quality time with their friends and families, enjoy the free walking environment on a pedestrian-only street, and a sense of fulfillment of contributing to the clean air street initiative. The dominant push factors were various entertainment activities, outdoor dining experiences, and freedom to carry out recreational activities on a vehicle-free street.

Further, the visitors’ higher level of agreement on revisit and advocacy intentions shows the successful acceptance of such pedestrianised streets. Most visitors were delighted with the vehicle-free zone, outdoor dining in the street, and various vibrant activities that included different cultural, physical, and educational activities happening on the street.

Positive sentiments

The sentiment analysis on comments and captions on Instagram showed evidence of positive sentiments, as 78 per cent of social media statements on this initiative were optimistic. The commonly used words were churchstreetfirst, cleanairstreet, enjoy, free, good, beautiful, etc., clearly indicating how much people could relate the pedestrianization initiative with QoL.

Moreover, there was a 98 per cent agreement that a pedestrian-only environment improved QoL, with key contributory factors being safe pedestrian mobility, enhanced social interactions, suitable for all age groups, increased Physical Activity, and better health benefits due to walking and bicycling (also important result to create socially vibrant spaces in neighborhood and busy areas of city).

Pedestrianising an urban street positively impacts QoL by enhancing physical, mental, social, and economic well-being. Further, 96 per cent and 50 per cent of the visitors and shop owners recommended extending the current implementation of pedestrianisation of Church Street during weekends beyond the testbed period.

Overall positive sentiments were observed towards pedestrianisation among all stakeholders. The study also elucidates the awareness among the public on the benefits of vehicle-free streets, thus, alleviating the scope to expand pedestrianisation to other pedestrian-friendly streets in the city.

(An urban mobility expert, the author is a professor at the Indian Institute of Science and Convenor, IISc Sustainable Transportation Lab)

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