TN’s vehicular population rises by 89% in 10 years; 2-wheelers form the bulk

The rise in the number of private vehicles is due to poor public transport network, say experts, warning that the increase would lead to more congestion and pollution

In a clear warning about a future plagued with traffic jams and air pollution, the number of vehicles in Tamil Nadu jumped to 3.56 crore on March 1 this year from 1.88 crore in 2014 — an alarming rise by 89% in just a decade. Of these, more than three crore are two-wheelers.

This translates into 132 vehicles per kilometre compared to 74 in 2014, which implies spending more time commuting due to congestion.

While two-wheelers and cars clocked a rise by 92% and 114%, respectively, public buses recorded a decline of 8% in this period, according to vehicular position data of Tamil Nadu as of March 1, 2024.

Experts have attributed the lopsided growth to poor public transport network and high fares for last-mile connectivity. Among all vehicles, the number of two-wheelers

grew most rapidly, to 3 crore from 1.55 crore in the last 10 years. It was followed by cars, to 35.73 lakh from 16.64 lakh. On the contrary, the number of stage carriage buses, mainly run by the State-run Corporations, declined by 10% to 20,127 from 22,501. Auto-rickshaws and taxis, which are crucial to ensure last-mile connectivity, together saw a growth of 25%. Currently, Tamil Nadu has 3.22 lakh auto-rickshaws and 2.05 lakh taxis, including the vehicles attached to app-based aggregators.

Highlighting the reasons for a sharp increase in private vehicles, a senior official said a lot has changed over the years in the way people commute. “People have switched to personal vehicles, including two-wheelers, because of affordability and convenience. They don’t want to spend on bus fares, parking charges and last-mile connectivity,” said the official.

The switch, according to him, is more pronounced in rural areas and small towns from where people commute to big cities for employment. Other factors are the easy availability of loans and increased spending power.

2-wheelers account for most accident fatalities

KP Subramanian, retired professor and presently the visiting faculty at Division of Transportation Engineering, Anna University, attributed the high growth of two-wheelers to improvement in standard of living, economic development and poor public transport. “Rural and semi-urban areas have poor public transport. Inadequate and lack of accessibility to public transport leads to growth of high ratio of two-wheelers,” he said.

“Two-wheelers account for the single-largest road accident fatalities year after year. It poses a serious threat to road safety. Government should encourage public transport by making it attractive,” he said.

Experts also fear that unless the public transport system undergoes a major overhaul, congestion and air pollution will only worsen, as the number of private vehicles grows unabated.

Expenditure on public transport helps improve economy

K Arumugha Nainar, general secretary of the CITU-affiliated Tamil Nadu State Transport Employees Federation noted that a study by the World Economic Forum showed that every dollar spent on public transport would lead to four dollar increase in the GDP and a reduction of seven dollars in health expenditures.

“So the expenditure made on public transport would only help improve the economy. Study on the free bus rides offered to women passengers in Tamil Nadu has shown that they not only save on ticket fares and spend them for their family welfare,” he said.

Pointing to the benchmark set by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, he said urban areas should have 50 buses for a population of one lakh. “As per the benchmark, Chennai should have more than 6,000 buses but the MTC operates only half of that,” he said, demanding the State government to scrap eight government orders issued in 2019 that reduced the number of buses from 25,000 to 19,500.

“The Transport Corporations together have 28,000 identified bus routes in the State. However, the GOs restrict the operations of the buses as per the requirement,” he said. He demanded the government not to encourage the sale of two-wheelers.

Minibuses decline by 28 per cent

According to the vehicular position data, the number of minibuses plying in the city has declined by 28 per cent to 2,857 in February 2024 from 4,009 in March 2014. The main reason for the decline in is non-revision fares and challenges in revising permit regulations. As per the existing permit rule, minibuses are allowed to run on a 20-km route, of which 16 km should be in remote areas where government or private buses are not operational.

In the State Budget presented in February, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu had announced that minibus services would be expanded to rural regions bordering rapidly developing urban areas, but assured that the regulations would be updated.