KOCHI: In the past many years, Kochi has seen the highest number of vehicles when compared to other cities in the state. Every month, a record number of new vehicles are registered and enter the already congested city roads. As per the records of the Motor Vehicles Department, more than five lakh vehicles were registered last year. Ernakulam RTO T J Thomas said the figures of 2011 are likely to exceed that of 2010. Two-wheelers top the list of the newly registered vehicles, RT officials said. The present roads cannot take the traffic volume far greater than their carrying capacity, Thomas said. Moreover, the roads were not developed as per the requirements of the city, he added. On overcoming the issues related to traffic congestion, he said there was a need to control the rising number of vehicles. “As there is a check on population growth, there should be a control on the number of vehicles,” he said. “The trend that is seen today is that a family of four would have four different vehicles. That only adds to the congestion. If the family uses only one vehicle, it would be better,” Thomas said. The people should be made aware of the benefits of using public transport system, he added. The officials with the Motor Vehicles Department said the roads in Kochi have not changed much in the past 30 years. Almost all the roads are narrow and ill-maintained, which makes travelling difficult. Most of the officials said there was a need for unifying the public transport system to ease the congestion on city roads.
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