Though India’s transport network remains stuck in the last century with two wheelers like bicycles, mopeds, scooters and motor cycles remaining the most widely used transport vehicles in both urban and rural sectors two south Indian states, namely Kerala and Tamil Nadu, stands out having developed more extensive transport facilities that has helped restrain the use of personal vehicles.

The best indicator of the vastly superior transport facilities in Kerala and Tamil Nadu is the extensive nature of the public transport system in the two states which is not only more extensive than that of their peers but also comparatively larger than that in most metros, except Mumbai where the large rail network makes its public transport system the largest in the country. In fact it is also seen that even the rural public transport networks in Kerala and Tamil Nadu are far more extensive than that of most metros.

This is brought out by the census numbers for 2011 which shows that the bus and train network, the backbone of the public transport system meets the transport requirements of 31.3% of the workforce engaged in industry and services (that is excluding agriculture and domestic workers) in Kerala and 25.5% of the workforce in Tamil Nadu. In contrast the public transport system provides commuting facilities to only 14.9% of the workforce at the national level.

The public transport system in Kerala and Tamil Nadu which caters to the needs of 31.3% and 25.5% of the workers in these states are relatively much larger than in most metros like Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Bengaluru where the public transport systems cater to the needs of 24.7%, 22.4% 25.5% and 24.6% of the workforce.

Only Mumbai has a much larger public transport system than these two southern states. This is because the train network which transports 24.8% of the workforce in Mumbai adds to the facilities offered by the bus transport system which carries another 16.4% of the workforce and pushes up the total share of the public transport network in Mumbai to 41.2%, which is the highest share in the country.

What pushes the public transport network in Kerala and Tamil Nadu behind that in Mumbai is the minimal share of the train networks which carry only 2% and 2.2% of the workforce in these states. With the train network under the exclusive jurisdiction of the central government the two states have hardly any leverage to expand train facilities until very recently when metro rail projects began to be implemented in the cities. However, the bus transport network in Kerala and Tamil Nadu is vastly superior to that in the other states or even in the metros.

Thus while the bus transport network in Kerala carries 28.5% of the workforce that in Tamil Nadu carries 23.3% while the share is only 11.4% at the all India level . The share of bus transport in these two states are also substantially larger than the bus transport facilities even in the metros where its share is 21.8% in Delhi, 16.4% in Mumbai, 19.4% in Chennai, 22.1% in Kolkata and 23.7% in Bengaluru. In fact the rural public transport system in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which carries 27.9% and 28.6% of the workforce in these states are even better than that of the metros.

The extensive public transport facilities in Kerala and Tamil Nadu has helped them reduce their dependence on vehicles of personal use like two wheelers and cars. Thus we find that though Kerala and Tamil Nadu have much higher incomes than the all India average the share of their workers using four wheelers like cars, van, taxi and tempos are either similar or sometimes even much lower than the all India share.

The scenario is also the same in the case of two wheelers with the use of bicycles for commutating in Kerala and Tamil Nadu lower than in the country as a whole. In case of other personal vehicles like mopeds, scooters and motorcycles the scenario is slightly different. While the 10.8% share of persons using such two wheelers in Kerala is lower than the all India average of 12.7% Tamil Nadu has a higher share of 16.9% using mopeds, scooters and motorcycles. Overall it can be said that the extensive growth of the public transport system in Kerala and Tamil Nadu have helped restrain use of personal vehicle and reduce the use of fossil fuels to the maximum possible.