According to a recent report about twenty thousand odd new vehicles bring added over a period of one year in Srinagar district alone. This is indeed a healthy sign of purchasing power of people who have enough savings to buy a new vehicle for themselves. Even if a good number of these vehicles are for commercial purposes but a substantial number of these are for personal it use – and by personal use we mean strictly personal.
The number of vehicles with single occupancy is ubiquitous now on the streets of Srinagar. There is a lonely driver who drives the privately owned vehicle. Car pooling is still an alien concept in the valley. By car pooling we mean a bunch of professionals who have to reach the same end destination on a daily basis decide among themselves that we will travel in only one car so that money on fuel is saved. Not only does car pooling save money on fuel it also helps reduce pollution and traffic congestion. It is amazing that a city like Srinagar where very few new roads were added from the last four vehicles has so many privately owned vehicles.
One common excuse is the near absence of public transport during evening hours. People buy their own cars because they want to be free from the unreliable public transport. There is indeed a massive surge in the number of passengers on a few routes and the public transport buses are not able to accommodate every passenger. A lot of people consider it below their dignity to travel in such buses where passengers are made to stand up like poultry chicken in a cage.
Most of the new buyers are first-generation white collar professionals. They have been through the grind of a struggling life. At the feasibility point in their life they want to buy a car and join the elite class.
Fine enough, the number of single-occupied vehicles is increasing the traffic jam on our roads. The roads are becoming narrower with every passing day. We need to build more roads and widen the existing ones. We cannot stop people from buying cars. We can definitely build more roads to help them and other reach their destinations on time.
