We all have been stuck in traffic at some point or the other, sometimes at a terrible, terrible time. The irritation, anger and helplessness one feels at such times in indecribable. If you live in Mumbai, chances are that you might have become so used to the traffic by now that you realize how your commute time grows exponedntially even if you leave later than the optimum time only by a few minutes. Sure, we all know that Mumbai is a terrible city when it comes to traffic, but the latest title the metro has earned makes it even worse.
Reports suggest that Mumbai has the highest density of private cars on the road when compared to other metros. According to statistics by the state transport ministries, Mumbai leads the table with 430 cars per km of road. The city of Kolkata comes in second with a figure of 308 while Pune ranks third with 248 cars/km. While one would like to think of Delhi as one of the chart toppers, thanks to its widespread area, it has a rather low 93 cars /km despite having the most private cars (27.9 lakh).
As many as 172 vehicles are added per kilometer to the already congested roads of Mumbai in the past few years even as the length of the roads stand to remain in the range of 2000 km. A number of these vehicles, 85% to be precise, occupy road space in the form of parking that indirectly hampers the growth of public transport. These numbers are bound to increase till the time the authorities come up with a robust solution for public transport.
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Another reason that can be cited is the rising affordability of cars. Payment options can be handled by methods of a loan through which one can pay EMI’s for the vehicle. Experts speaking on the issue said that people in the age group of 25-30 years are more likely to buy a car as they do not like to rely on the deteriorating quality of public transport.
Source: ET Auto