Sales of gearless two-wheelers have increased many times in past 2 months
For past near about three months which were marked by shutdowns and government restriction with no public transport and almost invisible private transport, it is the ‘scooty’ which is riding on Kashmir roads these days.
The gearless two-wheeler or scooters, commonly here know as a ‘scooty’, as brand named by the company which first introduced it in Indian market, has become the most viable option of transport during the prevailing transport.
The gearless scooter which was first considered as a women’s only bike has not only now become a trend for youngsters of both genders but has started to take over traditional with-gear motorcycle as a most convenient mode of transport. But in present situation in Kashmir the sales of gearless scooters have increased many times, indicating that it has become the preferred choice given its ability to manoeuvre around through small roads and safe to ride as compared to a motorcycle.
“There is a good demand as taking cars on roads is dangerous due to stone pelting and restrictions besides on two-wheelers one can manoeuver through lanes and by-lanes to reach their respective destinations,” Mohammad Waseem of Natipora, who has bought a scooty during the prevailing situation.
As per preliminary estimates, the two-wheeler dealers state, that around 2000 scooters were sold across Kashmir in last two months.
“There has been considerable increase in sale of scooties,” said one of the Srinagar based dealer of two-wheelers.
He said while government employees and some other people are getting bank finances, a lot of people are buying it with cash.
Kashmir is witnessing complete lockdown since July 9 after killing of Hizb commander Burhan Wani who was killed in an encounter with government forces in South Kashmir.The public transport since then is off the roads leaving it extremely difficult to commute from one place to another.
“I had no option other than to buy a scooty to travel from office to home,” said Javid Ahmad, a Health Department employee.
“Being in health services, I have no option other than to attend my duty so I took bank loan and bought a scooty to commute from office to home, besides it is also safe to travel on two-wheelers these days,” he said.
Besides, the sale of new two-wheelers, there is a good demand for used bikes and scooters in the market these days as well.
“Mostly people who cannot afford to buy new scooters or bikes prefer to look for used two-wheelers,” said Muhammad Ismail, scooter mechanic at Karan Nagar adding that he has sold 15 two-wheelers since last month.
An official in Regional Transport Office Srinagar said that around 600 new two-wheelers were registered since last two months in the RTO office since July.
“There is trend that people are buying two-wheelers,” he said adding that due to prevailing situation many people were not able to register their two-wheelers and in coming days the number of registrations would increase as currently some people are not registering their vehicles.
