What Do Cheap Cars Mean for India’s Cities?
An Indian street scene. Photo by Satbir from Flickr.
Last week the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune ran a story on the new Tata Car priced at $2,500 coming out in India in 2008. Some time ago NextBillion covered the new car from the “Bottom of the Pyramid,” angle and the NYT and IHT did more of the same, framing the debate around its affordability; like Ford’s Model T, it’s a car designed for the masses. What’s conspicuously absent from the reporting is what cheap cars actually mean to India.
With poor air quality already a major problem in many Indian cities, the increase of cars will only make things worse. And because poor air quality is directly linked to respiratory diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, and lung cancer we can expect more people to fall ill as millions of new cars flood the roads.
Traffic is another concern. To cope with a greater number of cars on the road, India will have to start investing in infrastructure, highways, parking garages, etc., money that could be spent on other things like mass transit, hospitals, schools, you name it. And as more money is poured into traffic infrastructure more people will have greater incentive to buy a car, which in turn will drive demand for ever more highways. Where will these highways go? My guess is that people will have to be relocated to make room for the roads. That’s what happened in the United States, at least; neighborhoods were sacrificed for expressways.
These are the real costs of cheap cars, a price that is not reflected in the price tag. The question we should be asking ourselves is if these costs are really worth it. And if they aren’t, why not spend more money investing in good quality mass transport?
[...] 1 lakh car – and other entrants to the ultra-cheap car market – are nothing new to thecityfix.com and many other blogs, the concept received another burst of publicity over the weekend when New [...]
[...] registered a 40 percent reduction in nitrogen dioxide emissions. Ana Escalante recently reported on the upcoming 2008 release of the $2,500 Tata car in India. If you are wondering what impacts this super cheap car might have on Indian air quality, tune in [...]
[...] 1 lakh car – and other entrants to the ultra-cheap car market – are nothing new to thecityfix.com and many other blogs, the concept received another burst of publicity over the weekend when New [...]
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/opinion/04friedman.html?hp
A similar article by Thomas Friendman for the NYtimes, published the 4th of Novemeber.
Interesting Dario. When I was looking for a picture I came across another photo which I’m including here:
Photo by achakladar
The caption under the photo said the following:
Had you heard about this?
Extremely interesting and timely question. Actually the Indian metropolis are not able to receive more cars. A 10 Km journey in the peak hour in Mumbai took me more than an hour a couple of weeks ago. The case of smaller cities is not that different. Given the existing challenges, there is some hope when the Indian Government earmarked money for city development, including transport. Money that the cities are using in mass transit systems, including Bus Rapid Transit. Probably the cities are not able to move at the same pace as it is needed, but progress is evident. Pune started the operation last year of busways (not full BRT) and is improving the operations. Delhi is complementing its world class (though expensive) Metro with high capacity bus lanes. Ahmedabad is completing the first BRT Plan and it looks very good. Another 9 cities are following suit, with funding and help from the Ministry of Urban Development. As an international organization catalyzing environmentally sound transport solutions we found fertile ground in India and we hope to continue contributing to help them move in the right direction, not necessarily the “american way” of the Ford T.