Jump to content
  • Welcome to AutoLanka

    :action-smiley-028: We found you speeding on AutoLanka Forums without any registration! If you want the best experience, please sign in. Safe driving! 

Current influx of cars and point of saturation


Sura1973

Recommended Posts

Hi,

While the tax reduction is in favor for those who dream of a car I find it is bit scary to see the excessive number of prime movers from Hambathota with new cars as well as the increase of ads popping up for all sorts of used Japanese un registered cars. This is better than the previous influx of Indian made stuff but I really wonder how this is going to impact on the following.

  • Impact on the second hand market price of registered cars.. Here I find different implications by engine capacity as well as the country of origin. Basically I wonder will there be any demand for good used vehicles.
  • Traffic capacity of roads - During the past 2 years I find noticeable increase of cars in all main routes and I wonder if we are heading to a point of saturation where using a car (especially dyring rush hours) become a headache
  • The number of accidents (in addition to fatal ones) are on a rise - This leads to repairs of all sorts for never heard models where I wonder how will be the availability of spares, especially body parts. Will this lead to huge increase in body parts as well as insurance premiums and long idle time of damaged vehicles until the parts are found?
  • What will be the destiny of brand new imports and assembled vehicles as well as the grey market?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

having newer vehicles is a good thing,but the problem is there is no process to get 30year old vehicles off the roads(tax refunds,buy-ins,emissions and safety regulation updates etc are used in other countries to keep the car market moving)

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

All the systems in SL need a good review from "top to bottom" - but i don't think this will ever happen.

If the vehicle is not road worth then they should be off from the road this is the system most of the countries use unlike the "Eco test" you check the engine performance but don't give a s**t about the reset of the car. ie Don't check if seat belt lock work brake performance on all 4 wheels.

Some argue what happen to the classic cars - if you maintain them up to the standard then you have no issues yo can keep it.

This "System" need a change :lol:

regards

JC

Edited by john cooper
  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dont think the un registered Japanese cars you are referring to are anywhere close to the Indian(including tuks tuks) and Chinese imports we have on the road.

Also, as John Cooper mentioned neither the owners nor the authority give a crap of the quality of a vehicle such as the state of the brakes or tyres. I have seen many people driving around with tyres which are almost conpletely bald.

Influx of vehicles arent the only cause of accidents, it's due to our road system and people's driving style as well.

I have seen pedestrian crossings right infront bus stands, in such a case the chance someone getting knocked down is very high

Edited by Magnum
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Too late to talk about "point of saturation" isn't it? The current number of cars on the road far exceeds the capacity of the road network to a point where it takes hours to travel a short distance. What's the point in having a car if the commute itself isn't efficient? So point of saturation was a few years ago IMO.

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks all !

Yes the system issues, quality consciousness and planning etc are pathetic and we may not have any immediate conclusion. But being specific what do you think of;

  • Destiny of used cars when it comes to second hand market.. Will there be a point that people would feel going for a used car is not worth?
  • What will be the situation with supply of body parts and insurance premiums with a large number of different models coming in?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Crosswind said:

Its not the system that needs the change. Its the people who need to be changed. Not the 225 but the 20 million -odd who choose the 225. 

This country needs a widespread natural disaster badly.

This is so true. the 225 is a fair representation of the 20 Million. If you look at some opinions of the masses on social media you get to realize how retarded this nation is. 

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

38 minutes ago, Sura1973 said:

Thanks all !

Yes the system issues, quality consciousness and planning etc are pathetic and we may not have any immediate conclusion. But being specific what do you think of;

  • Destiny of used cars when it comes to second hand market.. Will there be a point that people would feel going for a used car is not worth?
  • What will be the situation with supply of body parts and insurance premiums with a large number of different models coming in?

Well I guess not since the people with an actual requirement will buy a vehicle that suits their requirement. The 'keep up with the siripalas next door' bunch will buy whatever s the trend these days. 

Usually what happens is Chamara and his family get inspired seing Nishantha  next door buy a WagonR FZ and at the next family funeral Chamara meeting his wifes cousin who has friends in leasing who says 'lease ekak dala gannako malli wagonR ekak supiri wahane hondata thel karanawa hi way eke literate kilometer 45i thallu karan giyoth 65.  mama danna kenek innawa uta kiala lease ekak dala gamu' and Chamaras wife joining in  with : 'ow Priyantha aiye mama meyata kianawa hamawelema ..koheda itin ' 

 

Anyways cars are no longer appreciating assets (bar the few idiots whod pay 3-4 millions for crap-heap 121s) but a fair resale value(you won't make a profit but will not depreciate like a used electronic item)  will still remain for the non-saturated vehicle categories. . 

 

Only way out of this is not sudden but will take time and very unlikely 

a) A shift in thinking from the peoples side : I know a guy who gets trasnport from his company , his wifes a teacher who is within walking distance to her shcool and yet they bought an AQUA of all things  this kind of thinking has to stop. 

b ) from the authorities side : an improvement in public transport. believe me I've been a use-the-train advocate ever since i was a student but actually in recent times  public transport has become a hellish experience and right now there are like half a million passengers in a train so i'm compelled to contribute to the traffic by driving to work.  You really can't blame someone for not using public transport given the state it is in. 

I don't see either of the two happen - so god bless us all. 

Edited by matroska
  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@matroska I don't think the whole owning a car mindset can ever be shaken off Sri Lankan mindset. I've seen migrated Sri Lankans  having like 3-4 cars in one family rather than using the much better public transportation available over there. The majority of Sri Lankans start with the dream of owning your own car with the first job you get into. Then once you get the money you'd think of getting your wife a car to take the kids around, then buy the first car for your kid when he turns 18 etc etc.. My dad had it & I might do it even albeit a bit differently.

Actually there's nothing wrong with that mindset as it drives you to work hard, be happy when you've accomplished it, have some pride showing it off etc etc. Heck just look around & see the number of car owning clubs this country has. People do take pride in owning vehicles here & as long as they do it responsibly I'd say it shouldn't bother anybody. Asking people not to buy cars because you can't put your own car to the road is the kind of privileged thinking we need to get rid of in this country. No wonder the majority is thinking like this as it is the same sentiment echoed by some of our appointed leaders in public. The funny thing is until you buy your car this same group of people are on the other side but as soon as they've got theirs they put down everyone else who comes after!

Rather than discuss why so many cars are on the road, what we should discuss is why there's so much traffic. The most visible or surface level cause people assign blame is importation of too many cars. Rather if you dig deep the real root cause is majority of daily commuters to city centers start driving themselves to work. This puts more cars on the road during specific time slots of the day. If we can reduce this & remove reasons for people to flock to certain places we could easily control this.

Just putting more buses with A/C etc & asking people to leave their cars is not going to solve the issue also. Whats needed rather is higher capacity networks such as trains, subways, trams etc developed having access to larger # of areas in a city. Problem doing that in a city like colombo is the existing infrastructure is so unplanned any development activity will have to shoulder huge costs in terms of reclamation, demolition, alternate route development etc.

The more feasible option for an economy such as ours is to do things like,

  1. Move/Spread out high traffic operations outside of city limits -> Already some good work happened in the past like fish market moving out/establishing sethsiripaya/sowsiripaya (gov offices)/plans to move out manning market etc. Need to analyze data on spread of people coming in for work in major cities & continue these kind of improvement work. Planned cities in developed countries have separate business districts/shopping districts/recreational districts etc. with dedicated transport modes/routes. 
  2. Manage Access time to the city -> Welcome change in this regard by moving school start time to 7:30am. Need to do more by segregating businesses & have staggered start times. Can banks or groceries etc.. start at a different time slot? Or even government can encourage work-from-home for applicable industries by giving tax benefits to employers who clock more such hours. Create more shared work spaces with video conferencing, remote access facilities etc at strategic locations for companies to bring in people only when needed. 
  3. More Frequent Shuttle Services with Multiple routes in the city -> The rise of U*er/P*ckM* service increase the number of small cars, three wheelers etc doing their runarounds in the city. It is a known fact that majority of small car owners & three wheel driver travel daily to city center like colombo etc as they have much more business than the suburbs they come from sometimes 30-40 kms away. Rather if the government had a proper shuttle kind of bus service available every 5-10 mins with min cost with right facilities (A/C, wifi etc) 15 cars driving 15 people can be replaced by one bus. With the right technology & teams behind to manage these buses can have arrival/departure times visible for commuters accessible on their smart phone/displays on bus halts etc. One huge attraction for buying these small cars for people nowadays is the good money they make by running it on these services part time. I may not be favoured by many for saying this but the unless controlled this will skyrocket into something else. Already this companies are making big money & more parties are showing interest to enter the market. Meaning more people who ideally keeping their cars on the road are insentivized to drive them to work ;)

All in all if the right thinking & leadership is present we can change the situation drastically by thinking on the above lines. If at least one person of influence read this & step up to make a change we all can enjoy a much better lanka. I'm a full on proponent of car ownership & only advocate the proper management of the system which ensures that right for generations to come.

 

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

AutoLanka Cars For Sale

Post Your Ad Free [Click Here]



×
×
  • Create New...