Transport in India - Local transport - Two-wheelers

Transport in India - Local transport - Two-wheelers

Two wheelers are the most popular mode of transport in terms of number of vehicles. There are two main types of powered two-wheelers, the motor scooter and the motorcycle. As of 1998 there were 27.9 million powered two wheelers. The current estimate is a double that.

The scooter was first built in post-war Italy as a two-wheeler with small wheels (supposedly to utilize war-surplus aircraft tailwheels). It differs from the motorcycle in having the driver seated with his legs together, and is thus favoured by women drivers (as sari, a common Indian dress for women, doesn't permit separation of legs). The Italian Vespa scooter was built in India under licence by Bajaj Auto, and together with the Italian Lambretta scooter dominated the two-wheeler scene. Much later came the hugely successful Bajaj Chetak scooter, but Bajaj has since lost the market to new entrants like Kinetic Motors. In the past decade, lightweight mini-scooters like the TVS Scooty and the Honda Activa have made it much easier for women to travel.


A main road in New Delhi. In India, driving is on the left side of road.The post-war years saw the predominance of foreign motorcycles, mainly British ones like Norton, BSA, Ariel etc. In the 1960s Indian-made bikes like Royal Enfield Bullet (a 350 cc British design), Jawa (a 250 cc Czech design) and Rajdoot (a 175 cc Polish design) predominated. After the beginning of liberalization Indian versions of popular Japanese bikes such as Suzuki, Honda, Kawasaki and Yamaha hit the roads, leading to motorcycles outstripping scooters in popularity. The overwhelmingly large number of bikes sold have engines 175 cc or less.

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