Low Cost Small Cars - Impending Urban Chaos
Well the infrastructure and traffic situation in India is quite bad. Thats not a revelation. But what could possibly make the situation worse?
A Rs 1 lakh car could bring the cities to its kneels. When we look around wherever Traffic situation is bad, invariably one can find a sea of cars. Now add an ocean to it, and you have a perfect recipe for chaos. Indian Roads are not equipped to handle this kind of traffic.
Tata's are not alone in this low-cost car race (A picture of Tata's 1-lakh car). Here are other contenders:
- Renault/Nissan plans on a $3000 (just over Rs 1 lakh) car for India.
- Bajaj plans a small car in the price range of Rs 2-5 lakhs.
- Ford has plans for a small car for India.
- Maruti/Suzuki is an old player in this area.
Well...
- Would a car that competes with Two-Wheelers be safe, and reliable? Cars like Maruti-800, wouldn't even be allowed in many countries of the world - for precisely that reason.
- In Japan, which cannot afford to put more cars on roads (for lack of space - and not artificially missing infrastructure) - cars are manufactured largely for export. Should we not learn from them?
- A situation similar to Airlines industry is unfolding. Lots of Airlines but decaying Airports - Lots of Cars but Pot-holed one-lane mis-managed roads. (Time Magazine Reports: Altitude Sickness - India's Airlines tied down by crumbling airport infrastructure.)
- Tata's or car-buyer's are not to be blamed in anyway. It is the governance that has failed the people. Responsibility for Urban Planning, Roads, Public Transport - does lie with people who sit on positions of Authority and Power.
Infrastructure and Reliable Public Transport is what this country is crying for.
posted by Apun Ka Desh @ 5:54 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Hi Dear,
A Lac Ruppee car will surely bring city in havoc...
Add more to congestion, traffic and pollution..
I never thought dat it could cause trouble too..But now, i am sure it will.Considering the over chaos would get manyfold
Nice one, I was also thinking the same and before reading this one I just posted on Indian road/traffic condition. I totally agree with you that this call is for govt and not for car buyers.
I came across a site that ofcourse is not from Govt. of India, but tend to provide the best information on public transportation that I know so far. There are private offerings for bus ticket etc. but including public with it is a wonderful idea that one can not ignore. The beauty of the website is that it gives the visitor multiple choices on travel service providers. The website address is IndiaTransit.com, which to me has helped a lot as i am in sales, and goto places that are not known, or where private travel agents don't care due to low profit margins. Their customer services also looked too good comparing to profit making businesses. Sometimes i wonder how can these people can afford such services.
Thanks,
IMO, a fast, clean, safe and reliable public transport system (bus, local trains) is the way to solve issues of pollution, traffic etc. and not a single, compact car for everyone.
Nice blog, though I'd like to suggest that it'd be nice if you had a post on what is the definition of "progress" as you mention in your profile, and how it applies to India (I apologize if I missed that post - I haven't read all of them). If you ask different people, you'll get different answers from them as to what progress means. So, what's your take on progress? What do you see/define as progress for India, or what, according to you, are the indicators of progress? :)
Keep writing and exploring.
-Amit
26th Jul '07 Economic Times has this editorial from the head of infrastructure for GE in India. The gentleman gives the same usual speal about India's infrastructure needs. But I never hear anyone talk about setting standards that have been benchmarked against the best in the world.
Totally agree with this post. Either industry or Govt has to act responsibly here. Flooding the market with OLRC's might as well bring down the entire urban infrastructure in one heave.
I also agree with your point about safety. The cars presently in the market struggle to offer basic safety features - and these cost as much as 4 Lakh rupees. So what could oneexpect from a 1-lakh car??
I have written more about this here.
Post a Comment
<< Home