There is increase in the number of persons having 2-wheelers in the Chennai city now
Posted on: 26/Jul/2019 9:49:10 AM
In the last year, the sales of two wheelers boomed and every hour 35 new 2 wheelers hit the roads of Chennai. The news that has emerged out now is every second person in Chennai city owns a 2-wheeler. In less than a decade, the number of persons having 2 wheelers has gone up. Point is the number was 18 lakhs in the 2009 and in 2019 it has gone up to 45 lakhs.
In India, New Delhi has got the largest fleet of 2 wheelers of 70 lakhs and next is the city of Bengaluru with 50 lakhs. Now Chennai city is third in this amazing list. This increase in the number of 2 wheelers in the Chennai city has been due to factors such as decline in the quality of public transport, easy available loans and presence of more parking spaces. This was according to some experts.
As a part of route rationalisation, more than 1400 government bus services were cut and this was according to Mr. M.R. Vijayabaskar, minster for state transport. It must be noted that many of these buses had played huge role in connecting the city with suburbs or small bus services that helped in improving the last mile connectivity.
Two wheelers have become affordable now and this was as per some commuters. It was later mentioned by a resident of Avadi that MTC recently increased the bus fares and stopped distributing 100 passes. He added that instead of spending Rs 150 or more on the bus tickets and autos, travelling by a 2 wheeler would be superb. He explained that though travelling by 2 wheelers could be very tiring but it could be cost effective and time saving. Information is MTC buses were maintained badly with broken seats, windows plus poor brakes.
In Chennai, the capacity of local trains and metro is limited and on daily basis less than 13 lakhs passengers could use them. The lack of train connectivity along the IT corridor of OMR plus in other developing places in the suburbs has made the people to use 2 wheelers more. When compared to the past, the purchasing power of the people has increased now and this was as per the minster for state transport. He spoke about how for those who earn Rs 20,000 to Rs 25000 per month buying a 2 wheeler is no longer difficult as the loans were easily available.
It was revealed by the urban planners that despite such an alarming increase in the number of 2 wheelers there was no policy to regulate them. A professor from Institute of Road Transport expressed his thoughts and spoke about how Chennai in the past had a dedicated 2 wheeler lane in the Anna Salai but was scrapped later.
