City OnWheels

• 156 vehicles per kilometer

Richeek Mishra
Agra. Increasing population, growing real estate and expansion of city has resulted in an increase in the number of vehicles in Agra. Roads are packed with wheels. We can see more wheels than pedestrians on roads.
There is an abandoned look on roads after midnight which is again flooded with vehicles from 6.30 am onwards. The population of the district including outskirts and villages is around 35 lakh living in about 87,500 houses and running on 3500 km long mesh of roads.
According to Regional Transport Office (RTO), there are 5,43,019 registered vehicles on roads comprising commercial and non-commercial vehicles. There are 156 vehicles per kilometer running simultaneously on road.
Two-wheelers scored top rank in numbers. In city the two-wheelers comprising scooters, bikes and mopeds touched 4,36,216 while cars geared to second rank with 43,300. There are 29,992 tractors which shows the interest of Agraites in agriculture.
Not only this, in the category of commercial vehicles auto-rickshaws topped with 13,381 and goods carriers comprising 3-wheelers and light motor 4-wheelers has scored second position with 5277 and third position with 2864 respectively. This data shows the increasing business of goods carrier in the city. These RTO registered commercial and non-commercial vehicles are the life sources of business and mobility in Agra. Nevertheless, there is a possibility of unregistered vehicles in the city brought from other districts or states.

RTO's worry
Regional Transport Office (RTO) is worried about the decreasing number of registrations. It is worth noting that registration charges in UP are more than other states. Locals purchase their vehicles in the city and register them in nearby states to save money, said an RTO official. RTO has stopped providing temporary registration. This prohibition will put a brake on decreasing registrations, he asserted.