Mumbai leads car density rankings at 430 cars per km

A statistical report released by the State Transport Ministry has claimed that Mumbai has the highest car density per kilometer of road, as compared to all other metro cities of the country. Interestingly, New Delhi has the most number of private cars on the road (27.9 lakh), but still amounts to a lower car density of just 93/km. This low car density in Delhi is a result of the vast network of roads available in the city.

On the other hand, the road network in Mumbai has been stuck at around 2,000 km from the past few years. Meanwhile, around 172 new vehicles are added to Mumbai's existing and congested road network, every day. This has resulted in a 56% rise in the number of private cars plying on city roads in the last six years, thus enhancing congestion and probabilities of traffic jams. Mumbai has a total of 8.6 lakh private cars, which occupy 85% of the total available road space of the city.

City planners claim that this outnumbering car density has been a major hindrance in improving quality of public transport services. Moreover, the growth in number of cars on the road can only be stopped by providing comfortable public transport alternatives to the citizens.

The rising car density figure has piled up a big problem of parking on Mumbai roads. Experts claim that about 20% of the roads in Mumbai are used for parking vehicles, which negatively affects the operation of public transport buses. Moreover, with EMIs for hatchbacks going as down as Rs. 5000-8000 per month, the middle class too can now comfortably afford a private car.

On the highest car density chart, Mumbai is followed by Kolkata with 308 cars per km, while Pune comes third at 248 cars per km.

Source: ET Auto