Cars on the rise in ‘City of two-wheelers’

Cars on the rise in ‘City of two-wheelers’
Vijay Times

Bangalore: The number of cars is growing at a relatively faster rate compared to two-wheelers in Bangalore, which has come to be known as “the City of two-wheelers”.

But nightmarish traffic jams and problems are likely to be more frequent with a 13 per cent increase in vehicles in 2004-2005 (ending March 31) compared to the previous year.

As per the data compiled by the Transport Department, with the addition of 2.51 lakh vehicles this year, the number of vehicles in the city is 21.86 lakh (21,86, 596) against the 19,34,854 on March 31, 2004.

And because of the increased number of vehicles, the average vehicle speed in the city has come down to 14 km per hour compared to 24 km per hour four years ago. More private cars and two-wheelers were registered this year than commercial vehicles.

Interestingly, the “city of two-wheelers” has seen a 16.26 per cent increase in the number of privately owned cars in 2004-05, which is higher than two-wheelers that have recorded an increase of 12.38 per cent.

This has been attributed to increase in purchasing power of Bangaloreans and new models offered by car companies.

Thanks to the strict ban on registration of new autos except under some special schemes, autorickshaws increased by just 2.32 per cent. The increase in goods vehicles is 11.89 per cent.

However, among all the vehicles in the city, two-wheelers are still in the number one position with 16,11,080 (previous year: 14,33,539), cars 3,21,510 (2,76,536), autorickshaws 77,084 (75,329) and goods vehicles 66,304 ( 59,254).

Even in 2004-05, the overall registration of two-wheelers was the highest at 1,77,541.

Other new vehicle registration in 2004-2005 were 44,974 cars, 1,755 autorickshaws, and 7,050 goods vehicles.

All over the state, the total number of vehicles is 54,35,616 in 2005 compared to 48,75,760 in 2004 with 5,59,856 new vehicles registered.