Cities across the world seem to have crossed the common feature of hosting both human beings and motorised vehicles in equal numbers. Now, it is the turn of villages to share that feature in foreseeable future, given the steadily rising number of rustics taking to reach the cities on two-wheelers in preference to walking and also travelling by public transport, a sight that is emerging in Mysuru. In addition, even vendors of consumer needs including vegetables, milk and knick-knacks, not to forget delivery boys tossing newspaper into the front yard of subscribers as they zoom on two-wheelers are no longer walkers.

The issues of motorised vehicles as personal possession on multiple counts such as heightened pollution of ambient air due to emission, traffic snarls, road mishaps both within city limits and on Highways, causing death and injuries resulting in trauma for dependants of wage-earning members of families, cluttering of space in central business district of cities, threat to safety of pedestrians, consumption of imported fuel burdening the Nation’s treasury and so on have tended to be an insurmountable challenge to the law-makers.

The Nation’s automobile industry is voicing its concern about significant reduction in the sales of its various products, but the inventory already in the store is large enough to enable more people to own their personal transport, thanks to aggressive advertisements causing impulse buying, vehicle loans by banks and other financial agencies, glitzy showrooms and the irrepressible desire to own an automobile.

Millennials in the land’s population, falling in the 22-37-year bracket, considered to be optimistic and seen pandered to by their affluent parents are major contributors to the boom in vehicular population in urban spaces. According to a recent study by a global agency, about 64 per cent of this generation in India, already owning a vehicle are now questioning the need to own a vehicle as opposed to 57 per cent in 2019. Steep increase in the cost of owning and commuting in personal motorised vehicle is said to have triggered that change in their mindset. More importantly, according to the study, the number of people using ride-hailing services in many cities, including those in the class of Mysuru, is showing a rising trend, currently estimated at 57 per cent of the millennials.

The benefits of saying good-bye to personal transport and getting into the habit of hailing vehicles for commuting don’t need any elaboration. The change over, at an increased rate, particularly in the metros, is long overdue, while it contributes to bring down unemployment of educated youth to some extent.