According to data, there are already over a crore private automobiles on Bengaluru’s roads. Mobility experts argue that these figures reflect poorly on the city’s administration.The quantity of private automobiles on Bengaluru’s roads has surpassed one crore. The Karnataka Transport Department reports that there are currently more than 1.003 crore private and non-transport cars operating on Bengaluru’s metropolitan roads. These consist of cars, omnibuses, tractors, two-wheelers, private service vehicles, etc. Just over 99.3 lakh of these are automobiles and two-wheelers.In October, the department also noted 54,626 new non-transport vehicle registrations. Over the past few months, the monthly data of newly registered private automobiles has exceeded the 50,000 mark, and the city has
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continued to see a steady increase in the number ofpersonal automobiles.48,756 private vehicles, comprising 13,737 cars and 34,791 two-wheelers, were registered in January of this year. In the months of February, March, and April, there were almost 36,000 registered cars, over 39,000 private vehicle logs, and 47,824 registered cars. 52,592 private automobiles were registered in May of this year, followed by 53,926 in June, 50,861 in July, 57,000 brand-new private vehicles in August, and 51,561 private vehicles in September after that.With this, as of October 31, 2023, the number of automobiles in Bengaluru is over 1.13 crore, of which over 89% are not for use in transportation.Mobility specialists say the numbers are not in favour of Bengaluru’s management. They believe that as long as vehicular traffic stress thresholds are crossed, the city would eventually collapse due to a lack of planning and control.One thing unites well developed cities: master planning. Singapore, for example, has a 50-year master plan. Bengaluru, however, stands out for the turmoil that results from a lack of planning. Furthermore, the numbers
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speak for themselves. In Tokyo, the location that may have the greatestAmong people who use global mass transit systems, less than 10% drive private automobiles. Less than 20% of people in Singapore, which recently announced its intention to become a “zero car” city, currently own private vehicles. In contrast, almost 80% of people in Bengaluru possess private automobiles, according to public transportation advocate Sandeep Anirudhan.Mobility experts suggest that in order to improve the quality of life in the city, this tendency needs to be swiftly reversed. The focus should be on developing a dependable and reasonably priced public transportation system rather than improving and growing the road infrastructure.Others draw attention to the government’s inability to establish the Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC) as required by the Constitutional 74th Amendment (Nagarpalika) Act of 1992, which was designed to generate ideas for resolving Bengaluru’s traffic issues.issues. “It’s just a basic association. increased private cars on the road and increased traffic congestion result from a lack of mass transit options. Bengaluru has never had a public transit system, which is whyjuts out from any traffic congestion index like a sore thumb. Despite the fact that the 74th Amendment mandates planning, authorities have declined to embrace “planning” or develop institutional capacity for it by incorporating the Metropolitan Planning Committee, Anirudhan continued.Another expert on public transportation in the city claims that a significant portion of the issue stems from residents
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‘ ignorance of the negative effects growing car traffic has on the environment and public health. Everyone is aware of Bangalore’s public transit system’s inefficiencies.primary reason for the rise in the number of vehicles. Political, administrative, and expert levels of government must take a daring approach to resolving this issue. There doesn’t seem to be much willpower or interest, except from their sporadic opinions. The only public transportation option available besides Metro, BMTC, is unable to meet the growing demand for transportation. Private players are also prohibited, which eventually hurts Bangaloreans. As soon as they receive their first paycheck, every new hire wants to be the owner of the car. They are compelled to, even when they do not want to. The trouble that the latest opening has brought with connectivityof the Kalasipalayam terminal, forcing a large number of frequent commuters to use their own cars. We must immediately restructure the BMTC’s operations and rules in order to fortify it and guarantee that the concerns are met with robust and engaged public input; otherwise, we risk rapidly approaching a state of affairs akin to that of Delhi.
