[ashishmathur14]

Originally Posted by avisidhu

Absolutely true. People simply assume Delhi to be the worst, but me and my friend had the same reaction after landing in Pune from Delhi. The traffic sense is just atrocious and much worse than Delhi. Even Noida and Gurgaon are better. For a city with such pleasant weather throughout the year, you would expect people to be easy going

On the same topic, I believe Chandigarh has the highest ownership of cars per capita in India. Yet it figures no where in the list. Incidentally it also has a lot of incoming traffic from surrounding states. Goes to show what good planning can achieve.

As to those saying they hope authorities to come up with solutions, really? After all these years you still have this hope? It will keep getting worse no matter what. Some sensible solutions like Metro etc will only alleviate a little, but it's futile hoping things will get better.

The problem with pune is not only traffic, its also a lack of public transport and flyovers.
With Delhi also comes, (now) wide network of metro, good flyovers spread across the city, almost all bottlenecks have been taken care with flyovers.

Delhi also deals with atleast 15-20% of vehicles coming from bordering states which are nowhere accounted.
Pune, flyovers are rare, and the ones available are extremely narrow, dont know who designed them. There is extreme scarcity of public transport, almost negligible and no outside vehicles.

Still the stink is bigger, even though two cities are beyond comparison.

Chandigarh is a well planned city and each and every aspect related to traffic was considered while planning it, so it cannot be compared to haphazardly organized places in India.

- The weather no more same and pleasant throughout the year, it was 42 C and city witnessed a good summer and gave everyone a glimpse of what it is like to be somewhere in North.

[Nav-i-gator]

Its a fact long known, isn't it? That our cities are bursting from the seam. Even smaller cities and towns are facing the same issue, with prominent inhabited areas filled upto the brim with traffic, and no scope of improvement as the modernization/expansion has come without any planning for future. Till this day, colonizers cut out lands and sell to buyers with narrowest of provisions for roads, to maximize their profits and govt authorities are blind. Old areas of Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Lucknow, even hyderabad and chennai have no scope of road expansion/widening.

I read somewhere that London during late 19th century and early 20th century was in a similar mess, filthy narrow streets filled with beggars and stray animals, open sewage, stinking Thames river (It was so stinking that London house of commons - their parliamant has to close down their operations once). Plague was prevalent.

That London was able to modernize and recuperate was due to destruction bought on it by World wars. WW II in particular, half of London was destroyed, and it gave one rare opportunity to rebuild it in a more sustainable way.

I cannot wish for such opportunity for us too though. Harsh reality - we may have to learn living like this.

[avisidhu]

Originally Posted by Nav-i-gator

Its a fact long known, isn't it? That our cities are bursting from the seam. Even smaller cities and towns are facing the same issue, with prominent inhabited areas filled upto the brim with traffic, and no scope of improvement as the modernization/expansion has come without any planning for future.....

That's another problem. Small towns have extremely congested streets where four wheelers cannot even think of going. These are mostly old centers of commerce. Even the big cities like Delhi and Kanpur have expanded around these areas. The congestion of streets was mainly due to lack of personal transport, environment issues (helped in summers) and security (have seen many towns with narrow streets and bazars spread around a local fort, I'm guessing it helped slow the advance of enemy troops and equipment).

As you rightly mentioned, the only way forward for such places would be to raze everything and construct again. Else with the population explosion in India, it will just keep getting worse.

[Rahul4]

People in Hyderabad also face the same issue, Traffic congestion is seen on every road during the peak hours. I spend almost 2 hours just to cover a stretch of 4 kms in the evening during peak hours of traffic which I cover in 15 minutes in the morning when the roads are a bit empty. Several traffic routing schemes were adapted by the traffic police and new roads were laid, present roads were widened, new flyovers were constructed and the roads in bad condition were repaired, even then the traffic congestion doesn't seem to reduce. The roads are wide enough but the traffic doesn't seem to reduce because the number of private vehicles on the roads have almost quadrupled in a span of few months. With the release of a new motor vehicle in a timely manner, the number of motorists is ever increasing.
U turns have been changed in accordance to reduce traffic congestion but in vain. Moving traffic is fine but stand still traffic caused by some heavy vehicle or motorists flooding near the u turns and signals to occupy almost the other half of the road (opposite lane) are very common here and almost in every city .
If proper lanes and discipline is followed then this can be avoided as traffic flow will be moving. how hard may the traffic police work and route the traffic , if people wont follow lane discipline and always want to start late and reach destination faster then this situation is unavoidable. Motorists almost find small gaps to pass by. Every body is in state of urgency. Nobody has patience to wait . If we be patient then traffic flow will be smooth and cleared fast.
Be patient, Start early, reach your destination early.

[landcruiser123]

With cities growing vertically (highrise buildings and offices), limits to how much a road can be widened and cars becoming more affordable, the situation is only about to get worse. Mumbai is an old city, hence the high car density.

The government needs to work on schemes like to reduce traffic congestion and improve last mile connectivity with public transport. Schemes like odd-even are too harsh, but schemes like the ones in Manila should be considered. (You can't drive your car on every 5th day.)

When agencies like Ola, Uber and Zipgo start doing business, the government wants to regulate and control them.

Cities like Bangalore have grown only in the last 2 decades. Hence, the car density is low. But if you see certain stretches, Bangalore has terrible traffic. There are regions that are relatively free during all times.

[shaggydogg]

Originally Posted by A_v_i

Am surprised that Bangalore does not figure in the top 3 and moreover at Pune being at number 3.

This could be because an overwhelming number of the vehicles on Bangalore roads are 2-wheelers. I recall reading somewhere that the capacity of Bangalore roads is ~5 lakh vehicles whereas the current number including two wheelers is at ~60 lakh.

[anshuman_v]

On traffic sense, here is the trend I have observed. Smaller cities tend to have even more unruly traffic. Travel to any small city - you will see rickshaws, all sorts of transport vehicles, two wheelers - pretty much driving as they very well please. In fact, in one of my recent visits to one such city: my relative chided me for my 'fearful' driving. He said I had grown soft by living in Bangalore. According to him there is only one rule: you can drive as you please on the road, so long as you honk - and as soon as you honk, it is the other party's problem since he then has to react to the honk and move out of your way!

I continue to learn :-)

[ashishy]

Originally Posted by GTO

I feel innovative companies like Uber, Ola, ZoomCar & Myles are reducing car ownership more than public transportation ever did.

I moved to Bombay in Feb and tried all these companies. Ola and Myles were responsible to make me buy a car last month because of their pathetic policies and service.

Better to spend couple of lakhs then deal with headache and tension every day.

[rish27]

May be Off topic.

But when we speak here on Cars per KM. Are we referring to per Sq.KM

If not then the dynamics will completely change, basis the size of roads.

A Single/Two laner will have lesser cars per KM vis-a-vis a 4/6 laner.

[BB311]

Adding a bit on whatever observation I have made over the years in cities I lived:

1. Mumbai- Was their for 4 months post my 12th Standard Examinations in 2006.
   • Transport Infrastructure : Decent Connectivity of BEST , Excellent reach and service (helped by the fact that you only have to travel down or up ) of the Mumbai Local Trains.
   • Road Sense: From some one originally from NCR it would seem like you are in US of A, while for someone from Chandigarh it would seem quite similar
   • Roads: Decent in the areas I lived (South Mumbai), however, move north and the trouble begins.
2. Pune- Did my engineering here, and stayed for five years.
   • Transport Infrastructure : None, worst of all the cities I have been to. You have to depend on the arrogant Auto-Wallahs and Tum-Tum's (6 seater Auto's)
   • Road Sense: From some one originally from NCR it would seem like their are some places worse when it comes to road manners, However,In Pune the problem is with the biker traffic, while in NCR the problem is with - everyone.
   • Roads: Pot-holed, Narrow.
3. NCR- Been employed here since 5 years.
   • Transport Infrastructure : Perhaps the best. Having a car is just for fun and show-off.
   • Road Sense: What's that ?? And yes, be calm when someone hits your car, with proximity to UP, Katta's aka the country pistols are easier to access and as such, you don't want to be a victim.
   • Roads: Old Delhi - Like Pune without pot-holes. New Delhi - Excellent sans the places under Metro Rail extension work. You can travel from North Delhi to West, West to East, North to South without stopping at a traffic signal thanks to the flyovers. Gurgaon is a mess though.

Anyhow, coming back to the topic of car density, Delhi NCR has around 30k KM of road network, However, congestion is still high as during peak hours, somehow everyone decides to move in the same direction Delhi --> Gurgaon / Noida or back, and the arterial roads (Ring Road and the Expressways) always tend to be congested. Also, almost everyone with a car prefers driving to work. While in Mumbai, this rush hour load is handled because of people's preference to Local.

[Sachi]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Not every KM of road has the capacity to hold the same number of vehicles, so the statistic won't be consistent across the board. A 100 ft road has more surface area per km than a 40 ft. road, a six lane section of ORR can hold more cars per km than a 4 lane section of the same ORR. For Bangalore, one also needs to account for unusable moonscape masquerading as roads.

Very well said and totally agree with your observation.

[SJM1214]

Mumbai’s car density 5 times that of Delhi

The density of private cars in Mumbai soared by 18% in just two years, making it the most car-congested city in the country. The city has 510 cars for every km of road, almost five times higher than the corresponding number in Delhi, 108.

Mumbai’s high car density is mainly because of lack of road space. While Mumbai’s private car population is less than a third of Delhi’s, the city has just 2,000km of roads as compared with 28,000km in the national capital.

Source.

[Rehaan]

Mumbai’s high car density is mainly because of lack of road space. While Mumbai’s private car population is less than a third of Delhi’s, the city has just 2,000km of roads as compared with 28,000km in the national capital.

Also I can't help but think that if we're talking about density as "cars per km of road" (rather than cars per km-sq), the number of lanes should be factored in to the calculation somehow.

[silverado]

Pune will lead density rankings in 2 wheelers.These are the preferred mode in Pune.
Bombay traffic has got insane in last 4-5 years. Driving a vehicle to any location in Bombay needs advanced knowledge, such as parking or traffic patterns etc.

Are we heading towards a Grid-lock someday? Its about time we go Singapore way where they stop new vehicle registrations temporarily to maintain vehicle population in control.