A Week After the Tata Nano

Its now sinking in the effects of Tata Nano. The debate is still on. If one thing that has come to forefront in this debate is urgent need of Public Transport. I was out on the weekend to a small town of Dhule for cousin's wedding and had an opportunity to get in the views from the people of that area. This is what people in small cities feel:

• Sure there is apprehension that it will clog the streets.
• But still people would buy Tata Nano.
• Main reasons are
• To be on Four Wheel
• It provides them more protection than helmet on the Road
• The Price
• Status (In cities Nano may be symbol of reverse status, thats not the case in small towns)
• They will not use Nano as frequently as bikes, given bikes average is much more than Nano.

So it looks like to be Huge Hit is the small towns. Back yesterday night, I had c0mpuslsive feeling to go through the weekend papers to find columns on Nano. And I was not disappointed. Both ToI and IE carried columns on them. Expetedly both the columns were not about the Tata Nano itself, but its impact.

ToI's columns Second Opinion made scathing attack on those who criticized Tata for providing such a cheap car that will worsen the road situations. It said Not elitists but neo-casteists hate the Nano.

IE column was more of post analysis. Nano lessons for change. This encapsulates what I wrote on the night of Tata Nano's announcement. May be the answer lies in better public transport and unsubsidized fuel rates.

Another column I found on net was from HT. It speaks the same as above and some more. Find it here: Not 'either/or' but 'and'!

A rather old NYT column says No, No, No, Don't Follow Us. It brings to light what problem we might face if we go in for US like car-a-person model, and ponders on scale factor in public transport or mass transit system as well.

Tata Nano Fallout: Greater Thrust on Public Transport

Pune is already feeling the heat of the rise in private vehicles. With Tata Nano round the corner, which can convert huge bike population into car, local government is trying to strengthen public transport. Read more here.

Tata Nano, Envirinmentlists and Public Transport

Tata Nano, people's car as it promises to be, has brought forward various debates. The topic of this blog is effect on environment.

Environmentalists think that Cheaper car -> More people buy them -> More cars on already crowded roads -> Slower traffic -> More pollution. And rightly so.

Chief Minister of Maharashtra Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh has already aired his apprehensions upon popularity of such vehicles and its effect on traffic. You can read more about it in the following links. http://www.surfindia.com/news/fullstory.php?ref=1192614 http://www.saharasamay.com/samayhtml/Articles.aspx?NewsId=92614

Some people think that this is "Elitist's View". Ratan Tata countered this by pointing out few things:
1. It's worth it because it would make lives safe by moving people from bike to car (and I agree with it overwhelmingly).
2. It can also make some people buy less polluting car (i.e. Nano) than other relatively high polluting cars because of small engine size.
3. Its primarily the Rural India that is target market for this car.


For all those environmentalists and those in power, the Tata has just set a trend and more and more car are expected to become cheap because of Tata Nano. The problem is not the Tata Nano itself, but the pathetic state of Public Transport System. The thing that Nano shall do is convert more people from bikes to car and early.

Who wants to drive? Nobody. But there is no alternative in most of the cities. Public transport is so bad that people risk their lives by commuting a far as 8 meters on bikes. With more Nanos on the road, the situation will become even more bleak, and I am sure people would not take out the cars unless it is absolutely necessary.

The one and only way to move people from using personal vehicles is providing effective public transport. If that is done, people can buy more cars but not use them as much and road can become even freer.

Other measures be taken to curb the usage of personal vehicles like heavy parking fees in cities, city fuel surcharge and non-subsidized fuel. However these are extreme. Without effective transport to back them, this can be nuisance and are always avoidable because of democratic nature of local governing bodies.