Source 20

Transport in the Republic of India is an important part of the nation's economy. Since the economic liberalisation of the 1990s, development of infrastructure within the country has progressed at a rapid pace, and today there is a wide variety of modes of transport by land, water and air. However, India's relatively low GDP per capita has meant that access to these modes of transport has not been uniform.
Motor vehicle penetration is low by international standards, with only 13 million cars on the nation's roads. In addition, only around 10% of Indian households own a motorcycle. At the same time, the automobile industry in India is rapidly growing with an annual production of over 2.6 million vehicles, and vehicle volume is expected to rise greatly in the future.
In the interim however, public transport still remains the primary mode of transport for most of the population, and India's public transport systems are among the most heavily used in the world.India's rail network is the 4th longest and the most heavily used system in the world, transporting over 6 billion passengers and over 350 million tons of freight annually.
Despite ongoing improvements in the sector, several aspects of the transport sector are still riddled with problems due to outdated infrastructure and lack of investment in less economically active parts of the country. The demand for transport infrastructure and services has been rising by around 10% a year with the current infrastructure being unable to meet these growing demands. According to recent estimates by Goldman Sachs, India will need to spend US$1.7 trillion on infrastructure projects over the next decade to boost economic growth, of which US$500 billion is budgeted to be spent during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan.

Bicycles are a common mode of travel in much of India. More people can now afford to own a cycle than ever before. In 2005, more than 40% of Indian households owned a bicycle, with ownership rates ranging from around 30% to 70% at the state level. Along with walking, cycling accounts for 50 to 75 % of the commuter trips for those in the informal sector in urban areas.
Even though India is the second largest producer of bicycles in the world, a significant prejudice against bicycle riding for transport exists in some segments of the population, generally stemming from the status symbol aspect of the motor vehicle. In India, the word "bike" generally refers to motorcycle, and "cycle" refers to bicycle.
Pune was the first city in India to have dedicated lanes for cycles. It was built for the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games.
However, recent developments in Delhi suggest that bicycle riding is fast becoming popular in the metro cities of India. The Delhi government has decided to construct separate bicycle lanes on all major roads to combat pollution and ease traffic congestion.

Private vehicles account for 30% of the total transport demand in urban areas of India. An average of 963 new private vehicles are registered every day in Delhi alone. The number of automobiles produced in India rose from 63 lakh (6.3 million) in 2002-03 to 1.1 crore (11.2 million) in 2008-09. However, India still has a very low rate of car ownership. When comparing car ownership between BRIC developing countries, it is on a par with China,and exceeded by Brazil and Russia.
Compact cars, especially hatchbacks predominate due to affordability, fuel efficiency, congestion, and lack of parking space in most cities. Maruti, Hyundai and Tata Motors are the most popular brands in the order of their market share.
Motorised two-wheelers like scooters, small capacity motorcycles and mopeds are very popular a mode of transport due to their fuel efficiency and ease of use in congested traffic. The number of two-wheelers sold is several times that of cars. There were 4.75 crore (47.5 million) powered two-wheelers in India in 2003 compared with just 86 lakh (8.6 million) cars. Yamaha, Harley Davidson, Hero Honda, Honda, TVS Motors, Bajaj Auto and Mahindra 2wheeler are the largest two-wheeler companies in terms of market-share. Royal Enfield, an iconic brand name in the country, manufactures different variants of the British Bullet motorcycle which is a classic motorcycle that is still in production.

Buses
The oldest Indian state transport undertaking is North Bengal State Transport Corporation. It is still vibrant and running providing service to hundreds of commuters of North Bengal region of West Bengal. Buses take up over 90% of public transport in Indian cities, and serve as a cheap and convenient mode of transport for all classes of society. Services are mostly run by state government owned transport corporations. However, after the economic liberalisation, many state transport corporations have introduced various facilities like low-floor buses for the disabled and air-conditioned buses to attract private car owners to help decongest roads.
New initiatives like Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems and air conditioned buses have been taken by the various state government to improve the bus public transport systems in cities. Bus Rapid High Capacity buses can be found in cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Nagpur and Chennai. Bengaluru is the first Indian city to have an air-conditioned bus stop, located near Cubbon Park. The city of Chennai houses Asia's largest bus terminus, the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus.

Taxi
Most of the traditional taxicabs in India are either Premier Padmini or Hindustan Ambassador cars. In recent years, cars such as Chevrolet Tavera, Maruti Esteem, Maruti Omni, Mahindra Logan, Tata Indica, Toyota Innova, Hyundai Santro and Tata Indigo have become fairly popular among taxi operators. The livery of the taxis in India varies from state-to-state. In Delhi and Maharashtra, most taxicabs have yellow-black livery while in West Bengal, taxis have yellow livery. Private taxi operators are not required to have a specific livery. However, they are required by law to be registered as commercial vehicles.
Depending on the city/state, taxis can either be hailed or hired from taxi-stands. In cities such as Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad,taxis need to be hired over phone, whereas in cities like Kolkata and Mumbai, taxis can be hailed on the street. According to government of India regulations, all taxis are required to have a fare-meter installed. There are additional surcharges for luggage, late-night rides and toll taxes are to be paid by the passenger. Since 2006, radio taxis have become increasingly popular with the public due to reasons of safety and convenience.
In cities and localities where taxis are expensive or do not ply as per the government or municipal regulated fares, people use share taxis. These are normal taxis which carry one or more passengers travelling to destinations either en route to the final destination, or near the final destination. The passengers are charged according to the number of people with different destinations. A similar system exists for autorickshaws, known as share autos.
The city of Mumbai will soon be the first city in India, to have an "in-taxi" magazine, titled MumBaee, which will be issued to taxis which are part of the Mumbai Taximen's Union. The magazine debuted on 13 July 2009.