Bengaluru nears milestone with over 1 cr privately owned vehicles

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: As the Dasara-Diwali festive season approaches, Bengaluru is on the verge of surpassing one crore privately owned vehicles.

Presently, the city boasts nearly one crore registrations for non-transport vehicles, encompassing 75.6 lakh two-wheelers and 23.1 lakh personal cars.

The month of September alone witnessed an influx of 1,300 motorcycles and scooters, along with 409 new cars joining the city's bustling roads daily. Fast forward to September 30, and Bengaluru's vehicle tally stands at a formidable 1.1 crore.

Usually, during the festive months of October and November, new vehicle registrations see an upswing. Transport authorities are bracing for the imminent milestone of one crore private vehicles in Bengaluru.

Despite the availability of diverse public transportation alternatives such as the Metro network and ridesharing apps, a substantial portion of Bengaluru's populace continues to favour their personal vehicles for daily commutes.

The growth in Bengaluru's vehicle population has been more than doubling from 55.2 lakh in 2012-13. Namma Metro and BMTC are the primary public transit providers in the city, with the Metro covering 74 kilometres of routes and accommodating approximately 7 lakh passengers daily, while BMTC serves around 43 lakh passengers daily.

Mobility experts emphasise that reducing the reliance on private vehicles hinges on expanding the Namma Metro network into key office hubs and increasing the BMTC fleet size.

They stress that the burgeoning number of personal cars will add further strain to an already overburdened road network, which has seen no expansion over the past decade.

The tech corridor endured severe traffic congestion during the last week of September as a majority of professionals turned to their private vehicles for commuting.

During that challenging week, motorists faced 2-3 hour commutes to cover a 10-kilometre stretch due to peak-hour gridlock. Zooming out to the broader Karnataka landscape, the number of registered vehicles has also more than doubled, surging from approximately 15 million in 2012-13 to over 30 million by September 2023.

Currently, the state boasts around 22 million motorcycles and scooters, alongside 4.5 million registered cars. Yogesh AM, the Transport Commissioner, pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic played a pivotal role in spurring private vehicle usage, as individuals registered new vehicles and acquired used ones.

The introduction of new vehicle variants with enhanced features further enticed upgrades among consumers. The transportation department set a revenue target of Rs 11,500 crore during the Congress government's tenure.

In the current fiscal year, the department has already generated Rs 5,226 crore in revenue from new car registrations and other sources.