Pune has equal number of vehicles, people: PMC’s environment status report
The Environment Status Report (ESR) for the year 2016-17 was submitted on Friday. It clearly said that the vehicle population is equal to the city’s population. The ratio of vehicles as compared to per person is more than one in the city
As the lifestyle and financial condition of the citizens living in Pune is increasing, more people are purchasing private vehicles and preferring to travel by either their own vehicle or by air.
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Friday submitted the Environment Status Report (ESR) for the year 2016-17 in front of the general body. The ESR clearly said that the vehicle population is equal to the city’s population. The ratio of vehicles as compared to per person is more than one in the city.
Environment Officer Mangesh Dighe from PMC said that it means each person in the city has more than one vehicle in the city which is happening for the first time.
The total vehicle population in the city till March 2017 was 33,37,370. Within the period of March 2016 to March 2017 a total of 2.7 lakh vehicle are added to the city. Increasing the vehicles by 2.7 lakh in a period of one year is very high and it is time to think about our policies, said Dighe.
He said that every day 727 new private vehicles were being added to the city. The number is more because of Euro IV norm as many citizens purchased vehicles this year as the manufactures offered various discount schemes.
As the private vehicles are increasing in the city, the use of public transport mainly travelling by Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) and Railways is coming down.
As per the ESR report, the numbers of MSRTC passengers are coming down every year. The number of commuters of MSRTC in the year 2015-16 was 1,181.15 lakh and in the year 2016-17 it dropped to 1,108.93 lakh commuters.
The commuters of Railways are also coming down. In the year 2015-16, every day 2.18 lakh commuters were travelling by railway and in the year 2016-17 the daily commuters by railways was 2.17 lakh per day.
Air travel increasing
As the financial condition is improving in the city, many commuters prefer to travel by air in the city. The numbers of air travellers are increasing rapidly in the city.
Total air passengers in the city
2014-15 – 11,480 (daily)/ 49.90 lakh annum
2015-16 – 15,066 (daily)/ 54.99 lakh annum
2016-17 – 17,441 (daily)/ 65.12 lakh annum