[mkpiyengar]

On the Old Mumbai-Pune Highway while travelling towards Pune, after the Dapodi bridge you turn left towards Kirkee( Kirloskar Engines). It is a pain here to turn left, people keep going to the left lanes just to cut across in between as you approach the signal.
I've been squeezed multiple times by buses, tempo travellers, tavera etc who go wide to the left and then directly cut in. What invariably happens is a 2 wheeler cuts across, to avoid him you slow down and before you know it the tavera has put his right wheel in.
Just today morning a guy in white verna with all black tints, just zooms past me with his rear view mirrors closed safely, and here i'm with my rear views wide open to be repeatedly hit (upto 3 times in a day) by passing 2 wheelers.
There should be a book "Zen and art of driving in Pune"

Cheers
MKP

[ninjatalli]

Any particular reasons the I series MH 12 I_ XXXX has been left out for Pune?

Till recently the MH 12 H_ XXXX series was getting used, and immediately the current series in use is MH 12 J_ XXXX.

[voodoochild]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Any particular reasons the I series MH 12 I_ XXXX has been left out for Pune?

Till recently the MH 12 H_ XXXX series was getting used, and immediately the current series in use is MH 12 J_ XXXX.

Come to think of it, is the "I" series used anywhere in India? Maybe its because it causes confusion by looking like "1", so is intentionally omitted.

Cheers,
Rahul

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by voodoochild

Come to think of it, is the "I" series used anywhere in India? Maybe its because it causes confusion by looking like "1", so is intentionally omitted.

Cheers,
Rahul

Not really sure about that! But I doubt the confusion part is really the reason.

I have this odd habit of playing with numbers on the vehicle plates and hence noticed this a few weeks back. Could it be reserved for military cars? (i.e. the number plates they have are registered under this series with the RTO but not displayed)

[ajay_satpute]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Any particular reasons the I series MH 12 I_ XXXX has been left out for Pune?

Till recently the MH 12 H_ XXXX series was getting used, and immediately the current series in use is MH 12 J_ XXXX.

Man, dont talk about it.

For my wife's new Spark, we had planned the purchase well in advance so we get the number we desire. So we had asked for MH-12 IS 6409 number, since IS is our daughter's initials and 6409 is her birthdate. But, without giving any genuine reason, the request was denied by RTO. And finally, we got a JC series number.

Don't understand, where did all those 9999 x 26 numbers go?

[voodoochild]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Not really sure about that! But I doubt the confusion part is really the reason.

I have this odd habit of playing with numbers on the vehicle plates and hence noticed this a few weeks back. Could it be reserved for military cars? (i.e. the number plates they have are registered under this series with the RTO but not displayed)

This brings me to some observations about MH12 numbers that I found since moving from KA01:

1) There is no fixed series for PMPML buses (eg: KA01-F-)
2) There is no fixed series for govt. & police vehicles (eg: KA01-G-)
3) Ditto for commercial vehicles (eg: KA01-C-, KA01-AA, etc)
4) The double letter series seems to have started very early in Pune (eg: MH12-XX after MH12-X-)

Is this true? Or am I missing something to do with a different pattern?

Also, did anyone read of those new recruit traffic cops at Chaturshrungi sometime last year? These guys had apparently learnt a whole lot of registration series by rote (especially two-wheelers), and could identify, for example, bikes running on bogus plates that would actually be on cars or trucks. Like for eg: MH12-B- is a two-wheeler series, but MH12-FU-(call me juvenile, but ) is an LMV series.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by voodoochild

This brings me to some observations about MH12 numbers that I found since moving from KA01:

1) There is no fixed series for PMPML buses (eg: KA01-F-)
2) There is no fixed series for govt. & police vehicles (eg: KA01-G-)
3) Ditto for commercial vehicles (eg: KA01-C-, KA01-AA, etc)

Dunno about these!

4) The double letter series seems to have started very early in Pune (eg: MH12-XX after MH12-X-)

Yes Pune seems to have a headstart in that. Even the PCMC registration is still in the MH14 D_ XXXX series, a good 6 letters (that's a lot of numbers!) ahead.

These guys had apparently learnt a whole lot of registration series by rote (especially two-wheelers), and could identify, for example, bikes running on bogus plates that would actually be on cars or trucks. Like for eg: MH12-B- is a two-wheeler series, but MH12-FU-(call me juvenile, but ) is an LMV series.

Err Dude, I have spent a lot of office commuting hours thinking on this - there is a pattern, one quite simple if you are on the RTO side. My understanding (I started keeping MH 14 numbers as the base data, and considering only 2&4 wheelers) 2-wheelers, and 4-wheelers are given seperate letters. And probably every third letter is given to the 4-wheeler, while the in-between two letters are given to 2-wheelers.

- For e.g. MH 14 AN XXXX series is for bikes (I own one in this series). You won't find a 4-wheeler in this series. Either MH14 AO or MH14 AM series is for the 4-wheelers.

- Similarly MH14 DA XXXX series is for cars - you won't find a 2-wheeler in this series, and so on.


As you can see I have spent quite some thought on it. Beats the heck of waiting at traffic signals waiting to knock down the slow-pokes in front of you!

FYI - Another fake MH12 number plate. I am sure we don't need explanations for this!

[voodoochild]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

FYI - Another fake MH12 number plate. I am sure we don't need explanations for this!

PA is a valid LMV registration, google-baba told me so
Old car, re-registered with new number in Pune. So simble saar!!!

[sajo]

MH 12 PA is a very valid number. Even for the period.

In the mid 90's , RTO was seemingly confused about which character, first or the second, to be their "fixed" character.
Hence the double digit series for cars started with MH 12 CA , "A" being the fixed character. When this series got exhausted circa '96 (97?) , a new series MH 12 PA was started. This is for four wheelers.
Right at the turn of the century though , RTO did a volte face , and decided the first character needed to be fixed.
Hence the one of the first four wheeler series was MH 12 AF , followed by MH 12 AN/AX etc.
MH 12 AH series was exclusively for police vehicle registration.
I think the MH 12 B_ was reserved for commercial vehicles, but I may be wrong here.
The series skipped directly to MH 12 C_ , by around 2003/04.
Interestingly, they skipped MH 12 CA etc , because it was already used up 7-8 years ago , and moved on to MH 12 CD .
Shortly after that I started working and like a true professional, my mind switched off and everything is fuzzy , so I dont remember anything about anything.

[voodoochild]

Originally Posted by sajo

I think the MH 12 B_ was reserved for commercial vehicles, but I may be wrong here.

Doubt this, since I am in possession of a late-80s Yezdi Classic that bears an MH12-B-XXXX number. Papers say this was the original number (not re-registered).

Another observation: I've come across a very small number of vehicles with registrations from the single letter series like the above Yezdi. Is it because most of them from the 80s were scrapped/re-registered? Strange.

But maybe we should get back to the rants now? Anyone in the mood?

[alto99]

Even if a series is reserved for a type of vehicle, one can get a number of choice from other vehicle category series (not all but I know for a private car one can buy a 2 wheeler one). There is some additional amount to be paid for the series switch. I have myself done so but not from Pune.

[sajo]

Originally Posted by sajo

I think the MH 12 B_ was reserved for commercial vehicles, but I may be wrong here.

Originally Posted by voodoochild

Doubt this, since I am in possession of a late-80s Yezdi Classic that bears an MH12-B-XXXX number. Papers say this was the original number (not re-registered).

I said MH 12 B_ with another character. Like BA BB BC etc.
Quite possible for a late 80s bike to have a MH 12 B reg , because our 1991 Kiney has a MH 12 G registration. (Need to make it road worthy and also re-register it..).

Also , lately I am spotting vehicles without a letter at all. Example MH 50 2000 . They seem to be legit, non-fancy font plates , so all characters are clearly visible.

And yes, as Alto99ji said , there is a large chance that VIP/special numbers will be from two wheeler series.

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

Don't understand, where did all those 9999 x 26 numbers go?

I have spotted an Evoque (with regn no. ending in 9999) in Kothrud a few times.
Not sure what you want to know here.

[ajay_satpute]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

I have spotted an Evoque (with regn no. ending in 9999) in Kothrud a few times.
Not sure what you want to know here.

Mr. Balaji, you did not get the point. I meant to say that where has the whole MH 12 Ix xxxx series gone. With one alphabet, the total possible combinations are 9999 x 26, isn't it?

[sajo]

Originally Posted by ajay_satpute

Mr. Balaji, you did not get the point. I meant to say that where has the whole MH 12 Ix xxxx series gone. With one alphabet, the total possible combinations are 9999 x 26, isn't it?

It may be reserved for commercial vehicles/government vehicles. AFAIK , they do not give out special numbers from Govt/Commercial vehicle series to cars.