How feasible is the concept ‘one family-one car’?

How feasible is the concept ‘one family-one car’?
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: In a desperate attempt to ease the traffic chaos in city, transport minister N Cheluvarayaswamy recently announced the government’s intention to make ‘One family-One car’ mandatory. However, there is no clear view on how to implement it.

When contacted, the transport minister said that the government would ascertain the public opinion before a decision is taken.

In Karnataka, there are more than 69 lakh vehicles, 7.31 lakh of which are cars. Bangalore has around 29 lakh vehicles out of which 4.68 lakh are cars. Bangalore thus has more than half the total number of cars in the State.

This website’s newspaper spoke to the traffic experts and car dealers to check the practical implications of the concept. MN Sreehari, chairman to Traffic Engineers and Safety Trainers, believes that the concept is impractical.

‘‘One cannot stop people from buying cars. Instead, government can impose heavy tax on using certain busy roads. This will dampen the spirits of car enthusiasts to some extent.’’ Chief Traffic Warden MT Nayak thinks differently.

He says that though it seems difficult to implement, it is possible to make the concept mandatory. Nayak said that the government can introduce heavy tax on the second car. People, he further said, could be made to park their cars inside their compound and not on footpath.

‘‘Government should impose a tax on car parked outside the homes and on public roads and footpaths,’’ he added. Ramakrishna Rao of Bimal Auto Agency is understandably upset. If the concept is implemented, the auto agencies would face a bleak future. Indeed, it would be disastrous for them.

‘‘It will affect at least 35 per cent of our business,’’ he said. Again, going by experience, Rao is sure that imposing heavy tax on buying second car will not dissuade the rich from buying them anyway.

Kiran Kumar SR, senior executive (HR and Admin), Trident Hyundai too is of the opinion that implementing ‘one familyone car’ will adversely affect the automobile business.

There are chances of a single family buying many cars in different names.