Picture this:
You arrive in Srinagar just after dawn. The air smells like pine and memory. A glass-roofed EV tour bus waits quietly near the airport, sleek and silver like a spaceship designed for poetry. Inside, families sip kehwa while gazing upward—the translucent ceiling revealing snow-kissed clouds and Chinar leaves dancing in morning light.
As the bus hums past Dal Lake, you don’t just move…you begin to feel. Through wide windows, the water glistens like verses. Shikaras row silently, their rhythm syncing with a nearby buggy wheel. A pony trots by Hazratbal’s edge, head bowed, timeless.
And, you – as the tourist aren’t in a rush but rhythm.
This is not the Kashmir we commute through today.
It is the Kashmir we can create i.e. gentle, immersive, and soulfully paced.
When Speed Overwhelms Soul
Srinagar alone sees over 4 million trips daily, with nearly a million vehicles on roads never designed for congestion.
Peak hours turn poetry into pandemonium. Over ₹800 crore are lost annually to fuel and delays. And the air- once crisp, now is adulterated with particulate fumes.
- Mobility has turned mechanical.
- Tourism has turned transactional.
- We risk rushing through heaven…eyes open, senses closed.
Source to the figures mentioned above:
- According to a report by Greater Kashmir published on June 26, 2024, Srinagar sees approximately 056 million daily trips, with a vehicle population exceeding 900,000 and growing by 75,000 annually.
- Economic Losses Due to Congestion:
A micro-level study published in Discover Cities on April 10, 2025, estimates that ₹69.87 million are lost daily due to traffic congestion across key road stretches in Srinagar. When extrapolated city-wide, this amounts to ₹800+ crore annually
These figures reflect not just the scale of movement, but the mounting cost of unmanaged mobility — making a compelling case for the kind of poetic, purposeful transport solutions you’ve been envisioning…
Where Wheels End, Hooves Begin…
Yet in places where no tire dares tread—Sonamarg’s silent slopes, Gulmarg’s alpine hush, Pahalgam’s pine-cloaked trails—ponies still pace patiently.
These animals don’t just offer rides through the scenic valley, but are often soulful connectors… because
- A hoofprint in meadow mud is a memory marker.
- A pony’s breath in glacier air is a living verse &
- Their steady gait reminds us that –The journey matters more than the arrival.
The Buggy’s Quiet Comeback!
In 2024, four Kashmiri entrepreneurs resurrected horse-drawn buggies along Dal Lake — not as relics, but as reverent ride experiences:
- Wooden wheels echoing through willow alleys
- Guides reciting Lal Ded’s verses, Wahab Khar’s wisdom, and tales of Kashmir’s woven soul
Just as the Shikarawala’s oar sets the Dal Lake’s tempo, the buggy wheel restores Kashmir’s rhythm.
After all, who rushes through heaven?
(Note: While the individual names of the four Kashmiri’s weren’t publicly listed in the available reports, their story was covered in State Times and Daily Excelsior)
Europe Walks, Kashmir Can Whisper…
In cities like Vienna, Utrecht, and Ljubljana, walking and cycling aren’t alternatives—they’re aspirations.
- In Utrecht, cyclists outnumber cars.
- In Bruges, buggies glide past Gothic towers.
- In Ljubljana, pedestrians feel like river poets.
Kashmir too can echo this grace. Not by copying, but by curating.
Let cars handle the long hauls—from Srinagar to Gurez, Anantnag to Yusmarg, Lolab’s green miles to Kupwara’s dream trails.
But within landmark zones—Hazratbal, Shankaracharya, Nishat, Baisaran Meadows & other naturesque places let tourists:
- Walk the verse
- Trot the nostalgia
- Ride the memory
Let each step becomes a stanza. Each hoofbeat, a heartbeat. Each buggy wheel, a bookmark in Kashmir’s living poetry.
Now! Picture This: Glass-Roofed EVs: Kashmir’s Moving Windows to Heaven
In a land where every skyline feels hand-painted and every hill whisper’s its history, EV tourist buses with glass roofs and panoramic windows could become Kashmir’s next soulful stride.
Imagine gliding beside Dal Lake, not in haste, but in harmony—watching the shimmer of shikaras, the silhouette of Zabarwan hills, and the changing hues of the sky through a transparent canopy.
These buses wouldn’t just be vehicles; they would be the new viewfinders on wheels.
- Glass roofs: Offering uninterrupted views of Chinar crowns and cloud trails
- Wide side windows: Framing Hazratbal’s marble, Nishat’s terraced gardens, and Shankaracharya’s sacred silhouette—each unfolding like a living postcard
- EV silence: Would let the landscape speak with no honks, just hush
And for the Gen Z travellers, it would be a dream come true, as it would be:
- Perfect for reels and vlogs, capturing Kashmir’s cinematic curves
Doing so, each route would then become a moving gallery, each ride a reverent reel.
🌿 Turning Reverie into Reality: Mobility with Meaning
To make this dream a lived reality, here’s how Kashmir can move with intent:
✅ Create Climate-Conscious Travel Zones
- Mixed-use lanes in heritage corridors with priority for ponies, buggies, walkers, and EVs
- Limit fossil-fuel access near shrines, gardens, and meadows
✅ Introduce Government-Aided Scenic EVs
- These buses could be deployed as state-supported tour circuits, connecting:
- Dal Lake → Nishat → Shalimar → Hazratbal → Shankaracharya
- Srinagar → Doodhpathri → Yusmarg → Charar-e-Sharif
- Pahalgam → Aru → Betaab → Baisaran
- Seasonal routes to Gurez, Kupwara, Tulail, and Lolab with snow-ready wheels: Inspired by Canada & Switzerland these EV buses could be seasonally tailored, much like the glacier buses in Canada’s Columbia Icefield or Switzerland’s Jungfrau region:
✅ Revive Traditional Mobility with Modern Meaning
- Support buggy revival cooperatives and pony handler unions
- Train narrators to weave Sufi poetry and folk tales into ride experiences
- Use QR codes at buggy stops: “Scan to hear Nund Rishi’s verses as you ride”
✅ Engage Gen Z Creators
- Vlog-friendly vehicles, buggy ride reels, pony podcasts
- Mobility storytelling competitions across campuses
✅ Festival & Tourism Packages
- “Mobility of Memory” Week: EV rides, buggy relays, walkathons, poetry trails
- Integration into curated experiences and wedding tourism.
The Stitch Forward: Kashmir as a story in motion
Every buggy wheel can be a stanza.
Every hoofprint can be a footnote.
Every EV glide can be a line of clean hope.
Let us restore not just roads, but rhythm.
Let the youth of Kashmir become weavers of coexistence—where a pony and a solar car can share the sunrise.
Because in this Valley, progress isn’t measured in speed—but in soul.
And when we move with intention, when every step is a story, Kashmir shall continue to be what it always was—heaven on earth, handwoven one footprint at a time.
And in doing so, we won’t just preserve beauty—we’ll prevent losses worth INR 800 crores that stem from fuel waste, delayed productivity, and environmental strain.
Remember this is not just a mobility plan, it’s a cultural choreography – where Kashmir breathes easy, and moves with grace, not grind.