Tata Nano -> A Revolution ?

An afternoon gossip with my armchair critic (click here for another of his critical idea) ventured into talking about the newly released Tata Nano - the famed 1 lakh car ! which is being portrayed as an social revolution and is said to take private transport in India to a new realm.

I, as usual, asked him his opinion -
"What do you think of the concept of the Tata Nano ?"
pat came the reply -
"I do not like it one bit, 't s a crass commercial effort at increasing Tata's profits, nothing else and is not at all a Social Revolution"

He then went on to reason out his opinion - -

" The last thing this already insufficient infrastructure needs is something that tells people to avoid public transport. Being a fan of public transport, it would have been nice if he could have a 10lakh bus with awesome comforts and facilities, now you will see 10lakh Nanos, each with one person in it. Develop something that everyone can benefit from, and I see public transport as a potential entity that can be developed. If the the government aint developing the public trans, who better than Tata, by far the most ethical business community in India, can do that ? He can develop a cheap, comfortable, revolutionary bus than making 40lakh Nanos. "

I asked him - " Okay, suppose, I want to travel with my family and only with my family, do you think I should go in some public bus eh ? I can't afford a Honda, Maruti or Toyota etc., so this Nano is a boon for me, I can get it for a very affordable price and at the same time, I can enjoy traveling in comfort , in privacy . . I need not compromise on traveling"

Armchair said - "See, you do not want to travel in a bus because its crowded, you need to catch multiple buses to reach your destination and can't stand the crowd. Why is it crowded ? Because there aint enough buses in this place to support the population ! So, let Tata make more buses, cheaper buses, cheaper minivans . Ask anyone in New York, Hong Kong or London - there the public transport is damn convenient and everyone prefers that"

This case is neatly being solved in Trichy, there are plenty non-governmental transport services that own public buses and run them at the same rate as that of an government bus.
Most are more comfortable and faster ! Now, Tata can, maybe embark in running such buses :P !

Okay, next point - "Our place aint like London, its full of winding streets, practically inaccessible streets, lots of nooks and corners and such places can't be definitely reached by public transport. This place is highly populated too, high population density. I would prefer to own a 1lakh car if it takes me my doorstep after a day's work and save me the trouble of walking all the way from the bus-stop to my home"

Critic retorts - "The roads in HK are equally winding as ours, and has a similar population density, but still, they have a beautiful network of trams that serve all these places as well. Consider Bangalore, wouldn't you prefer to travel by the volvo bus rather than your car ?"

The Rishi - "Obviously no, I would any day prefer my personal car over the volvo. Do you know how many volvos are there in the city ? Just a handful and they cover only the most prominent parts of Bangalore. Apart from that, their tickets are costly too."

Critic - "Exactly, thats the point I want to make, do not make Volvo buses, do not buy volvos, buy Tata buses and buy more buses, but...sadly Tata aint making buses nor are they buying more buses"

Rishi - "Hey, it aint easy to get buses to all the remote villages in India. In such places, families tend to travel in a single two wheeler - the Nano is targeted at those people."

Critic - "Why don't they make minivans or mini-buses for the villages ?. See, the point is this Nano is touted to be a Social Revolution - I do not like that lie"

Rishi - "It aint a lie and its not wrong call that concept a revolution. See, then why do the people in NY or any place own cars ? Considering that, they possess some of the world's costliest cars, they take tremendous care over their cars, the cars are a prized possession there and each owner would go out of the way to maintain the virginity of their car ! "

Critic - "See, I would like to use my private vehicle to reach places that are not serviced by a public bus. But, do you think people use their own transport ONLY for places that are not accessible by a public bus eh ? Check the percentage of population that uses public transport in any big foreign metro, take even London..... that would be far more than the other.There even a rich man wouldn't mind using a bus to reach a place that a bus would take him to as long as its comfortable for that you need more buses and trains and metro rails and trams not Nanos !
Look.. All I am saying is, even in developed countries, you can find people using public transport even if they are rich, because it is convenient and plentiful... which is not the case in India so the solution should be towards improving public transport facilites not having more private cheap cars. The point is , Nano aint a Revolution at all "

Rishi - " We should ALSO improve towards developing public transport facilites....and at the same time...give everyone achance ....or the pleaseure of owning a car...see da..this Nano..also might result in a reduction in accidents due to overcrowded two wheelers"

Armchair - "But increase in accidents due to overcrowding of roads and lack of space! The moment you get a cheap car into the market before you have good public transport, people will use this over public transport the damage is irreversible now if Tata Nano is released in a place where there is good public transport system, I'd paint the town red, asking people to buy it. So, again..my only point is - - "The TATA NANO is NOT a SOCIAL REVOLUTION,
it's a crass commercial effort at increasing profits, nothing else he is cashing in on the lack of good public transport.. "

For certain, Nano will lead to an increased number of cars on the streets and the roads of India will suffer, unable to bear the ever growing population weight . . .this is already prominent in Bangalore.

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Well, then we drifted on for some more time and I bid him TATA (Goodbye in Tamil) !!!!

So . . uhmm.... I do not how to conclude !! so . . . Sarve Janaa Sukhino Bhavanthu !!

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I think traveling aboard brooms will be a better idea ! - The Maharishi