The coronavirus pandemic has impacted almost every sector of the economy. From travel to traffic, there is chaos everywhere.
The pandemic has also led to changes in our daily lives and the way we commute. In fact, the impact has been the most significant in our daily commute to office.
With new social distancing norms in effect, more and more people are using their cars to commute to office or elsewhere. Single-occupancy vehicles have increase on the road as public transport system is shunned.
A survey done by Capgemini in May had said that more than 50 per cent of consumers in India are considering purchasing a car this year. The number is far higher than the global average of 35 per cent, according to Capgemini.
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Researchers across the world have offered mathematical models to predict the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on vehicular traffic. The models shows risk of extreme traffic in large metro cities.
The congestion has led to increased drive time in many big cities across the world, including Delhi.
{{/usCountry}}The congestion has led to increased drive time in many big cities across the world, including Delhi.
{{/usCountry}}According to India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki, the percentage of first-time buyers and additional car buying increased during the coronavirus pandemic. The reason for this is more and more people are preferring personal mobility over public transport, said Maruti.
“First-time car buying is up and replacement buying is down, which means exchange is down. However, additional car buying is also up because of the functionality requirement,” Maruti Suzuki India Ltd Executive Director (Sales and Marketing) Shashank Srivastava told news agency PTI.
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He said that the company has seen the share of first-time buyers going up by 5.5 per cent, to 51-53 per cent in the first quarter of this fiscal as compared to the fourth quarter of 2019-20.
Those dealing in used cars also say that there is a huge uptick in demand for such cars.
“The pandemic outbreak has changed people’s preferences and we believe they will opt for personal mobility solutions rather than shared mobility,” co-founder and CEO of CarDekho Amit Jain said.