Pune’s public transport use shifts to better gear: ESR draft

This was the main draw from the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) draft Environment status report (ESR) for 2019-20, published on Friday

Though the total number of vehicles in Pune city is increasing per annum, since the last two years, 2018-2020, the number of private vehicles is decreasing and use of public transport in the city is on the rise.

The PMC’s environment department collects data from various agencies in the city to collate the city’s present environment status. (HT FILE PHOTO)

This was the main draw from the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) draft Environment status report (ESR) for 2019-20, published on Friday.

The PMC’s environment department collects data from various agencies in the city to collate the city’s present environment status.

PMC environment officer Mangesh Dighe said, “The important finding of the ESR is, public transport service is improving. The registration of private vehicles, mainly two-wheelers and cars, has been dropping for the last two years. PMC obtained this data from the RTO office.”

Dighe said, “Till March 2020, Pune city has a total of 41,35,915 vehicles. The vehicle number is more than the population in the city.”

Though two-wheelers still form the largest number of vehicles, its registration has been dropping.

As per the ESR, in 2017-18, the total number of two-wheelers sold in the city are 2,05,804. Total sale dropped in 2018-19 to 1,76,314 and in 2019-20 it is at 1,67,406.

For cars, in 2018, 56,401 cars were sold in the city. But in 2019 the number is at 47,617, and in 2019 it is 46,150.

One of the observations of the ESR is that as cab services increase, more taxi-cabs are getting registered, with residents preferring to hire a cab instead of purchasing a car.

Dighe said, “During the lockdown, the city’s overall environment improved drastically. River water quality, air pollution and noise pollution all are near the standard norms.”