CHANDIGARH: Demand for cars and bikes has bounced back from the pandemic slump in the city, with vehicle registration increasing by 31.57% in the first nine months of this year as compared to the same period last year.
While 19,005 vehicles were registered from January to September in 2020, the figure was 25,005 for 2021, according to data from Registering and Licensing Authority. In entire 2020, the number could only go up to 29,259.
Before Covid came along, 43,986 vehicles, including two-wheelers and four wheelers, were registered in 2019. In 2018, 45,267 vehicles were registered.
A senior RLA official said on an average, they auction four series of vehicle registration numbers in a year along with leftover number of previous years. In one series there are 10,000 numbers. “So, on an average, around 40,000 to 45,000 vehicles are registered every year in Chandigarh. But all this was before the pandemic,” he said.
In 2010, 47,930 vehicles were registered at the RLA office. In 2011, the figure was 47,823. In 2012, the registrations witnessed a jump of around 2,000 vehicles, with total figure being 49,665. In 2013, the vehicles registered saw a dip of around 6,000, with the total being 43,363. But in 2014, vehicle registrations went up — 46,255 vehicles got registered.
In 2019’s UT’s traffic advisory council meeting, members had stated that the rising number of vehicle registration in the city was leading to traffic congestion. The members had suggested exploring different modes of mass rapid transport system (MRTS) in city.
To facilitate public, former Punjab governor-cum-UT administrator V P Singh Badnore in August 2019 had launched the registration of new vehicle (non-transport) at dealers’ point. The vehicle owner would no longer have to stand in long queues and make rounds of the RLA. The city has 52 dealers of cars and two-wheelers.
