Hyderabad traffic study reveals fourfold rise of four-wheelers and 40% dip in use of buses between 2011 and 2024

Private vehicles have taken over the city roads by lakhs edging out the public transport to the margins of existence, all in less than one and a half decade, a study by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) revealed.

The urban development giant has commissioned a study to understand the shift in modes of transport over the years, towards preparation of a comprehensive mobility plan (CMP) as a prelude to the Master Plan for Hyderabad Metropolitan area.

The study noted a massive shift from public transport to the private vehicles over the period between 2011 and 2024, as vouched by reduced use of bus as mode of transport and increased two-wheeler and four-wheeler use.

City buses run by the Andhra Pradesh/Telangana state road transport corporations served 42% population in 2011, which dropped to 33% by 2016 and further to 25% by 2024. However, the number of daily person trips remained more or less than same, with 38 lakh trips recorded in 2024, as against 37.6 lakh in 2011. There was a slight dip in 2016, when 36 lakh daily person trips were recorded by bus.

During the same period, there was a fourfold surge in use of car as mode of transport. In 2011, merely 4 lakh daily person trips were reported by car constituting four percent of the total trips. The number spiralled to 7.7 lakh in 2016 constituting 7% of the total, and to a whopping 24.3 lakh trips in 2024, which accounted for 16% of the total daily person trips in the year.

Use of two-wheelers too has seen a remarkable rise for the period, with 2011 recording 33.4 lakh daily person trips by this mode, which increased to 51.7 lakh by 2016 and to 69.2 lakh by 2024. In percentage terms, the use of two-wheelers was its highest in 2016 at 47% up from 38% as recorded in 2011. A slight dip of two per cent was recorded in 2024, which, when seen in conjunction with the increase in use of bus during the same period, speaks for the free bus scheme for women being implemented by the Telangana government.

Travel by autos has come down from 7% to 5% between 2011 and 2024 despite the proliferation of ride hailing apps. The trips, however increased from 6.5 lakh to 8.2 lakh, taking a marginal dip of 10,000 trips in 2016. Travel by taxi recorded a marginal increase from 5% to 6%, with absolute number of daily person trips increasing from 4.1 lakh to 8.7 lakh.

Use of the suburban trains is next to nil in 2024, with only 30,000 person trips by the Multi Modal Transport System (MMTS), down from 3.5 lakh trips recorded in 2011 by the same means. Hyderabad Metro Rrail, which had started operations towards the end of 2017, recorded 4.8 lakh daily person trips accounting for 3% of the urban transport in 2024.