A STUDY ON THE INCREASE IN FUEL PRICE AND ITS INFLUENCE ON SELECTION OF MODE OF TRANSPORT AMONG PEOPLE WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO COCHIN CITY

The sudden increase in the use of private vehicles contributed to the increase in traffic congestion, road accidents and pollution. The rise in ownership of private vehicles is caused by, among others, the problem of public transports being unable to fulfil the public’s needs. This made the commuters prefer to use their own vehicles rather than public transports. Based on this scenario, a study has been conducted particularly in Cochin city to study the factors that can diminish the problem of traffic congestion. The main objective of this study is to form a model of shifts of transportation modes from private vehicles to public transports (buses) based on the ‘fuel price increase’ factor to see the change in vehicle preference. From this study, it can also be concluded that the effects of fuel price increase influenced the shift of preference from private to public transports with the types of vehicles and the rate of price increase as variables.Petrol has become an indispensable part of our day-to-day life, and we can’t imagine our life without it. But the petrol prices are sky rocketing, and it is eventually going to affect each and everything that we use in our day to day life. Poor people are already working hard to earn square meal a day and this hike is definitely going to paralyze these already-burdened people. Within three years petrol price has increased 10 times and is still increasing. It is nothing but adding fuel to the fire.