Best public transport in india
November 2, 2020: India, one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, is achieving a growth rate of 7.5% per annum. This growth inevitably entails a proper infrastructure, the basics of which is of course, a good public transport systems.
Improving public transportation is high on the agenda and although private-vehicle ownership in India is growing and therefore causing major congestion problems in cities, there are many plans to revamp bus systems and invest in metro networks.
Here’s taking a look at the public transport systems in the cities and the problems faced by the government in maintaining the infrastructure.
Mumbai Metro
The cities of this diverse country and its urban population play an important role in the growth of the country. As per the 2011 census, 31.2% of India’s population (377 million) is living in urban areas.
As the UN estimates, these numbers will grow to 40% (590 million) by 2030 and 58% (875 million) by 2050. While only 30% of the total population lives in urban areas, approximately 63% of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is contributed by that urban area.
The public transport systems is designed to reduce traffic congestion in the city, and supplement the overcrowded Mumbai Suburban Railway (colloquially called local trains) network.
Mumbai has the advantage of a high modal share of the public (88%) in favour of a public mass transport system.
The existing Mumbai Suburban Railway carries over 7 million passengers per day,
and is supplemented by the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) bus system, which provides feeder services to station-going passengers to allow them to complete their journeys.
Until the 1980s, transport in Mumbai was not a big problem. The discontinuation of trams resulted in a direct increase of passenger pressure on the suburban railway network.
By 2010 the population of Mumbai doubled. However, due to the city’s geographical constraints and rapid population growth, road and rail infrastructure development has not been able to keep pace with growing demand over the last 4-5 decades.
Moreover, the Mumbai Suburban Railway, though extensive, is not built to rapid transit specifications. The main objective of the Mumbai Metro is to provide mass rapid transit services to people within an approach distance of between 1 and 2 kilometres, and to serve the areas not connected by the existing Suburban Rail network.
Indore
Indore has probably the best public transportation system in India. Cost isn’t as cheap as Kolkata but each penny is worth it.
The Indore City Buses are broad and satisfying for riders. The buses cover the easy route to cover districts including Pithampur, Rau, Hatod, Manpur, and Simrol. The newly introduced Volvos are impression conditioned.
Also, the city buses are colored according to their routes. If there is a blue bus, you know it’s going to Rajwada, an orange one? It’s going to Pithampur. Which is truly a helpful system.
The other one is the Indore BRTS, the metro of Indore.
First in India to use the stylish Corona-XL buses that are spacious, equipped with AC, Auto doors, anti-accident systems.
Fare ranges between Rs 5 to Rs 20.
Delhi
Delhi Metro is the largest metro system with a total length of 213km, carrying 2.8 million passengers a day. Some of the new metro systems are still facing issues with building ridership; for example, Jaipur Metro carries only 20,000 passengers per day, incurring a loss of INR 30 million (US$ 500,000) every month.
Delhi Metro Bus services also connect the city well with CNG buses plying in many areas. You have auto-rickshaws, though not very pocket-friendly.
You have prepaid cabs from railway stations, airports and some other parts connecting you to the rest of the city.
The city has e-Rickshaws as well.
The condition of the roads is way better than Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad.
Kolkata
Public transport is highly developed. It’s cheap and you have a large quantity of buses in all nooks and corners. The Metro runs down the main city. You have metered taxis easily reached which are beautiful, sturdy and cheap. There are shared autos that manage in specific routes and along with there are trams, cycle rickshaws, and hand-pulled rickshaws.
One of the least mentioned modes of public transport is the local trains.
In crowds, some of the routes can compare to Mumbai’s. While in Mumbai there are three routes, Kolkata has 67 routes. Overall, a wonderful public transport system.
Chennai
The city has four routes of a local electric train connecting city and the suburbs is good old Beach-Tambaram now going up to Chengalapattu and beyond, section connecting City and the southern suburbs, Central-Thiruvallur/Arakonam section connecting North-West suburbs, Central-Gummidipoondi section covering Northern suburbs and the Beach-Velachery MRTS section covering part of the eastern areas.
There are two divisions of Chennai Metro Bus services covering Southern and Northern sections respectively. Normal, LSS, Deluxe, and A/c buses available across the city.
The recently introduced small buses (Mini-buses) cover the interior residential neighborhoods. Taxis are reliable, competitive, and covering all parts of the city. The autos used to be one of the worst in the country, now improving because of strict compliance and monitoring.
India’s transport problems
Even with the current size of the urban population, Indian cities are facing a multitude of issues such as severe congestion; deteriorating air quality; increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the transport sector; increasing road accidents; and exploding growth in the number of private vehicles (largely motorcycles). With the urban population projected to more than double in the next generation, the situation could easily get out of control and thwart India’s economic development efforts unless remedial measures are soon taken.
In a move to recognize and act upon urban mobility issues, in 2006 the federal government of India introduced the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP), setting the policy framework for providing sustainable mobility for the future (see Figure 1).
In 2015 the government unveiled its new plan to upgrade 100 cities into ‘smart cities’ and to ‘renew’ 500 cities.
The declining share of public transport systems
With population numbers growing and an increase in private-vehicle use, India currently experiences major road congestion daily.
The share of public transport is decreasing in India.
The federal government has recently published the results of the mode of transport people take to commute to work for the latest Census 2011 data in March 2016. According to the survey, more than 50% of the workforce (excluding domestic and agriculture) continue to work at home or travel to their workplace on foot in the absence of adequate transport facilities. Citizens are largely dependent on private transport. The share of public transport is just 18.1% of work trips.
The data indicates that there is a lack of public transportation facilities and citizens are largely dependent on private modes of transport, such as bicycles (26.3 million) and motorcycles (25.4 million) in rural and urban India. More people use motorcycles than travel by bus (22.9 million). In 2015 the number of daily trips using a motorcycle for commuting was 35 million (excluding personal trips); this is based on the increase in vehicle registration.
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Development of ‘smart cities’
The federal government of India has launched two flagship programs – 100 Smart Cities and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation, and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) for 500 cities that have a population of 100,000 or more, with funding of $8 billion and $8.3 billion, respectively.
The smart cities initiatives focus on core infrastructure service, whereas, AMRUT will adopt a project approach to ensure basic infrastructure services.
Smart cities cannot be built without smart public transport. Under the smart cities programme, the cities are required to build efficient urban mobility and public transportation by creating walkable localities, as well as promoting a variety of transport options.
However, there is no clear guideline for developing a sustainable public transportation system. An urban transport system is subject to planning, execution, and development by the states and union territories; hence, under the smart cities program each city can prepare its ‘Smart City Vision’ document, highlighting the city’s vision and funding proposal.
Emergence of metro systems
After the success of the Delhi Metro, lots of Indian cities are exploring the option of implementing metro rail networks. The Ministry of Urban Development estimates that there are approximately 316km of metro lines currently in operation and more than 500km of metro lines under construction across the country. This includes metro/monorail systems promoted by state governments and private bodies.
Most of the public transport systems are developed by public authorities with external funding and support from the federal government. However, some of the cities have developed the system in partnership with private players e.g. Gurgaon (operated by IL&FS), Mumbai (operated by RATP), and Hyderabad (operated by Keolis – under development). In the Union Budget 2014-2015, the government emphasized that the planning of metro projects must begin now. The federal government has earmarked INR 100 billion (US$ 1.5 billion) for metro projects in the fiscal budget 2016-2017.
