How to make India's metro systems serve our cities better?

This is Infocus. The Hindus, Current Affairs, Podcast Covering over 1000 km of operational tracks across 26 cities by 2025, India is said to be the third largest metro network in the world by length. Scale here might be the easy part to celebrate in terms of urban planning. From the latest additions to Mumbai's metro to Delhi's push to bring its transport institutions under a single authority, newer metros in Bhopal and Agra, to a fair hike debate in Bengaluru, the harder question is whether India's metros are being planned to become genuine backbones of urban mobility, whether their reach and impact can go beyond landmark projects to actually recalibrate how most Indians move through their cities. Hello and welcome to the episode of Infocus. I am the Barbie Madhava, your host for the day. To dig into these questions further, I am joined by Professor Shalini Sinhar, Professor at the SEPT University of Ahmedabad, who is also the center head of the Center of Excellence in Urban Transport. Welcome, man. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you so much, Viva. Very happy to be here in this discussion. Thank you. So from to start off with, can you tell me how this increase in metro networks across India is viewed in terms of urban planning and mobility today? Okay, so well, if we look at the mobility systems, we all know that efficient mobility systems are crucial for efficient functioning and productivity of cities. Right. And metro systems are high speed and high quality travel alternatives in our urban areas. And in a little over the next decade, we see a fourfold metro expansion across cities. So this is all very impressive. But we should look at this more as a beginning. To put this in context, we need to try and understand the mobility situation in our cities. India is rapidly urbanizing with bigger cities becoming even larger raccolomorations and tremendous growth in second year cities also. With increased incomes, we see rapid motorization levels. So just to give a little statistic here around 10% increase in vehicles per year in comparison to 3% in population. And the result of this is the congestion increase in the road crashes, air pollution, all of this we are seeing across most in cities. And the original approach largely has been to add more and more roads and buses which used to be the center stage at 1.10 time. Kind of lost significance due to lack of investments. However, post 2006 set as a national transport urban policy. We are seeing investments coming in metro systems and also bus systems. So we are adding to our supply through new infrastructure as well as services. But we need to do much more. So we should consider this as a start and keep building on this moment to ensure that we have an integrated transport system in cities which is able to provide improved access to workplaces, education, health and any other destinations which the city residents would like to travel to. Okay, so in terms of the metro networks that are being built at scale say we were at 248 odd kilometers back in 2014 and now. P.I.B. and other reports suggest that we have crossed over 1000 kilometers and across several cities by the end of 2025. So with this scale of expansion, the ridership aspect still sticks out. I think there was a report back in 2024 that saw that most Indian metro systems are still running at 25 to 30% of their original detailed project report projections. So Delhi here is still one among the best farmers as per the projection. What would you say are the reasons for this and does this answer differ from city to city? I would like to, you know, I look at it as two parts. The first is with respect to the ridership being low and the second aspect which is as per the DPR estimates where are we? Let's talk about the first part which is in terms of the ridership being low and the key questions that we need to ask here is why is it so. So firstly, if you look at the metro implementation that has happened in the cities in many cities, it is one or two corridors which has been that these are being a network and the supporting bus system which is really needed is also not there, not there to the level that one could want it to be. And therefore the question is what level of connectivity are we providing to different parts of the city. The metro system is a part of the larger public transport system and both need to connect destinations and hence creation of a network becomes very, very important. So that effect we are even able to see in case of Delhi where we have close to 400 kilometer network and we are able to see how people are able to travel and plus it also has a expansive bus system. So the second aspect is with respect to the usage of private vehicles so the flexibility and the convenience that the private vehicles have it is very difficult to match and we are an aspirational society everybody wants to own their vehicles. Do not own vehicles would want to wheelers to wheeler people would want to have cars and car owners would want more cars are bigger cars and there needs to be a shift in this you know reliance on personal modes of travel which is not very easy to achieve. But at the same time if we try to look at how have international cities manage this shift and one of the important component is they have employed a combination of push and pull measures while on one hand they have quality public transport system and on the other hand they have push measures like the meeting parking provision in areas with good public transport connectivity congestion management. So we are yet to employ such measures but now there is an opportunity supplies being put in place and we need to move towards you know parking control and parking charges or parking price so demand management is becoming very very crucial. The second part of it which is the DPR estimates so DPR estimates across the world we see that there is an optimism bias and our interl study also shows that there is a scope for review and rationalization of the DPR projections that we have. At the same time if we actually look at the assumptions under DPR for example that of transit or inter development having an integrated public transport system parking control and pricing measures last mile connectivity so these are the kind of assumptions that are built into the DPR as well but during the implementation we see that it's only the metro system that is being implemented and the other measures which are critical component of the mobility system. On which also the assumptions are faced many of those are not taken forward so what we need to bear in mind is metro alone cannot bring passengers there has to be an integrated multi model connectivity and all public transport journeys should be connected and seamless as much as possible. This is what they meant with Delhi taking the step now for the unified metropolitan transport authorities which was initially mentioned in the national urban transport policy of 2006 so this was already in place on paper but the implementation is happening after quite some lag and such agencies are fewer which integrate various transport public transport. I have a news like you mentioned that they are just as important to keep the ridership high or keep the push and pull factors in place with Delhi now taking that step how is it supposed to fix the cohesion like how what are the measures that are usually coming under these authorities and how do they take care of each aspect. I think this is a very important important question that we're asking with a integrative decisions towards mobility systems are absolutely crucial in the existing situation we have multiple agencies multiple institutions who are dealing with transportation in urban areas and each institution would have its own mandate from which they are working. But often this leads to also piecemeal interventions and at times they may be even conflicting so if you just try to think of some examples so for example if we are planning for a station area right so metro implementation is happening and there's a station either that is being planned but at the street level in terms of where is that sighting happening how close is it to the bus station at the street level how are people going to cross. Going to access the station are the pedestrian facilities which are available now all of these are important and therefore the metro agency and the local authority will need to work together another example is that of say a highway which is passing through this through city and the high authority might be interested in having you know high speed movement for through vehicles but that may also lead to conflicts with the local traffic and people who are on photo on seconds. So it's a little bit more. such situations are actually very real in today's context. And the key question then becomes is how do we ensure coordinated measures? How do we ensure that all the agencies come together and see I2I and try and resolve such issues which happen? So National Urban Transfer Policy, way back in 2006, as I've already mentioned, talked about setting up of Amta and which several cities have also done, but they have not been very effective because the key question was how do you ensure buy-in? Internationally also if we look, there are different models which exist. Some cities have single agencies, single transport agencies, for example in Singapore and London. Versus some cities we see that public transport coordination is across various agencies. In fact, even at regional coming down to the city level, at this case we can see in Germany. So both the models kind of exist. So in our case also we are talking about an Amta as a coordinating agency which did not have a statutory backing till now, but now has a statutory backing in Delhi and now the MLT. What will be important is if Amta is able to set out a common goal or an objective for the mobility system. As to what is it that we are wanting the transport system to do? Say efficient mobility. How quickly are people able to access different destinations, safety, I think people's centric will have to be key and once that goal or objective is set out, we are trying to ensure that the actions or the interventions that we are doing in mobility, they are all coordinated. Whatever sudden done, a strong political will is absolutely crucial to make this work and make this effective. You mentioned people's centric so that reminds me of the last mile connectivity problem. Most people go and mention that is the first thing that is stopping them from accessing metro on the daily. So what is your view in terms of how that can be tackled or will that also come within the station area design city to city? Well, what is very interesting about Indian cities is we have a high share of mode, high mode share on walk which is around 30 to 35 percent. That means of all the travel that is happening every day or on 35 percent of that travel is actually happening on foot. And if you take the travel that is happening on metro bus, in most cases it will start with walk. So the key question is how well are our sidewalks and safe crossings designed and that has to be a very important component of last mile connectivity. So when we talk about traveling on metro, it is not just traveling on the metro vehicle alone, but it is actually how easily are we able to walk to the metro station and then one will have to wait for the service to come that transferring from say metro to a bus or a bus to a metro. And finally again, walking in most cases to the destinations. So this out of travel of which a significant component is also the walking is something which is very, very important to look at. So unless we plan and design and implement to take care of the entire journey, people will not really shift. So the key questions then are do we have right footpaths, shaded pathways, safe crossings. Once they are at the station, how is the waiting area within the station also how do they navigate spaces is a conflict free movement from vehicles that pedestrians have. What kind of information which is available on the services? In fact, even before starting the service, even before starting the travel actually, the commuters should have access to information and that to real time information. And finally, they will be able to reach the destination. So does it does a public transport system provide a connected network of metro and buses. So we need to expand our current approach beyond engineering to local area planning, bus service planning and coordination and urban as well as a public realm design. And I think it's a very interesting link to the walking thing that you mentioned is such an interesting link to see this beyond just train metro train operations, I think. So which again, that brings me to another layer of this which is about, you know, we're expanding at such scale. There are metros across even in Agra, Sudat Patna such cities, but when we look at it in that level, the population density also varies, right? And how they are planned, the land use and even the capacities at which people use those avenues. So what does a metro network mean essentially in a tire two city say and will a belly model work there or is there a different system of governance that need to be at play? See the public transport ridership and also my ridership would depend on the size of the city rather the population size. Also the network length, sometimes when there are just one corridor or two corridors, it is not really providing a network effect. It also is dependent on the existing share of public transport. So if there is a good bus network, people are already using public transport that also helps unable to shift. And finally, the integration of the public transport modes. If we look at global cities with good metro systems, we will see that buses are the back mode and they carry more than 50% of the public transport riderships. So whether we talk about big cities or smaller cities, buses are really important. Now coming out to the smaller cities, you know the smaller cities with smaller triplanes, we will not really able to see a shift to metro because for short distances anything in three kilometers, four kilometers, it is too much for a bother for people to kind of get into a metro station, take a service and then reach again and then again walk. So in smaller cities with smaller triplanes, it is difficult to see the shift. So the focus will have to be on slightly larger cities, say 40 lakh plus cities and in these cities we will have to look at creating a network rather than just having one or two corridors. We do fewer cities but we develop a network and at the same time we build bus services across all city sizes, even in metro cities we would need bus services. In fact if we actually look at the tier one cities of you know where we have these metro systems, Delhi is a case apart because obviously it has a full network but Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore or Hadrabah, all of these cities have had bus systems with significant ridership. And tier two cities, even if you look at say Surad and the Barth Jaipur, there are metro systems which are there are getting implemented but we will also along with it ensure that we have adequate number of buses on road, we need to add buses and we need to plan for the routes aligned with the metro network so that we are able to attract ridership. Got it. So from the points that you mentioned, I am able to clearly see a link between the other types of public transport there are and how they are very important to this conversation of how to expand metro networks itself right. But is that there within the institutional planning of it, is that a conversation that comes up in terms of planning, have you from your experience in this field, does it work in tandem or do they work in silos which is why we see a lag there. Well, I think metro companies have realized that bus systems are important plus an integrated multi-modal system is important which includes a network integration so that the bus networks aligns with the metro network so that is one because the last mile connectivity is important. The walking networks are also equally important which connect your metro systems a little better. The fairs which need to be integrated across different modes so that has to be unified fair system and information integration as well so that passengers are able to get access to the information on the services and they can have a planned travel that they are undertaking. So many of these discussions are already on the way, many cities are already working on this. But the part is also looking at integrating the different services. In fact, earlier the Biaatias and the bus service fairs were also very different. They are looking at integrating, they have already integrated these two fairs and now they are also working with the metro real company to ensure that the integration really happens. So there are efforts that are being taken, entities as well as the metro real companies realizing that all of this will have to come together to make it work and there are some cases where this coordination, there is a delay and things being worked. The metro agencies have started working on implementing feeder bus services but what is more important is the city bus services if the capacity kind of exists there. How we are able to leverage this capacity and tie this with the metro real system. So that a larger, well connected network in the city is available which helps people to travel to their destinations. Got it. And like you mentioned, the fair point, the ticket prices is also a friction point. We've seen it with Bangalore as well. How are these operation costs and ridership growth maintained? Like what is the sweet spot if one could say about how they can be maintained? Is the first step to again look at, like you said, a certain kind of uniform pricing across public transport? Would that be the right way to go about it? The first point is the affordability of public transport systems is crucial. And pricing levels will have to be set in a way that the users are not pushed out. So the fair is actually a matter of policy and not really technical matter. One should not be looking at fair for recovering full costs. In fact, even if you look at global cities across the world, which are growing very well in terms of their public transport ridership, they are not able to recover full cost from the Fairbox revenue. So we have to look at integrating the multiple modes that we have through a unified fair system so that when people move from one motor, one service to the other, they are not paying any penalties for transfers. And along with that, push measures to shift more commuters to public transport would be needed. There are other ways of recovering the cost. I think that is what one will have to focus the shift to. So if we are able to keep the fairs affordable and have more people on public transport, that would also mean that you're saving cost on flyers, tunnel projects, road expansion. Secondly, sometimes these economic benefits of having good public transport system in terms of the access that it provides to jobs, education, health for larger population. This is something that is often not valued. And this is something which is very important with it because it contributes to the well-being and quality of life for the city residents. Besides this, there are value capture mechanisms. So Metro projects improve accessibility and hence how can the value that it is creating, how can that be captured through TOD? That is something that most cities are working towards. Often we do not actually look at what is being given as free to private vehicle users. For example, the road construction and capacity expansion that happens so much of budgetary allocation is happening towards that to facilitate smoother traffic flow. And therefore, that is not really priced. So the subsidies which is there on the private transport if we try to measure it, we will probably see that the true cost of private transport modes are almost three times that of public transport. If we add on to this, the externality cost of pollution and accidents, this actually increases to three to five times that on public transport. So this is based on a recent study that we have done for M.B.M. But so there has to be other mechanisms of having charges, for example, environmental improvement charge or road tax being revisited to see whether a true cost is being imposed or not. But in a nutshell, the objective of the fair levels should be to maximize ridership than actually the revenue. And in some ways, if you maximize the ridership, that would also mean more revenue for the transit agencies. Right. You also mentioned these externalities that have to be factored in. I think I came across the Delhi Metro's carbon credits claiming thing which seemed like a genuine innovation that pushes commuters to use metro systems. Even Kutchi is trying to take steps to fully operate within a clean energy ecosystem, which includes solar power. So with these innovations in mind, are they scalable? Or do they also again work in separate cities and what is possible within that governance system? Well, these are encouraging innovations, as you mentioned, nibha. I think Delhi Metro claiming carbon credits or initiatives of solar power generation that Kutchi is looking at. And some of these learnings will definitely flow through systems are being created. And it will also be scaled in due course. That's how I look at it. But if you look in terms of the carbon emissions or the energy efficiency per kilometer, of all the modes put together in an urban area, so the metro systems would fare much better, much better than our personal modes of travel, like two wheelers and cars. Of course, subject to the ridership levels. And therefore, the focus needs to be on attracting more passengers, because the more ridership increases, it becomes even more efficient. And how do we brand? How do we communicate our services? How do we undertake performance assessments to truly make our services user-centric? How do we understand customer expectations? And how do we deliver a user-focused services? So I think this is where the largely the focus has to be. And public transport is often viewed as a mode for those who do not have their own vehicles. From that to making public transport as a choice mode for all, I think this is the shift that we want. Got it. Another thing that I would want to ask you on is how are these review mechanisms in place? Because for example, for a bus system that's been in place for ages now, compared to something that's newer for India, say, a metro, other review mechanisms and the timelines in pace with it. How often do these review mechanisms work? See, the focus on urban transport particularly started about two decades ago. Through the policy-- that was a national urban transport policy-- which also talked about cities preparing a comprehensive mobility plan, which looks at all the modes in the city and is trying to develop a future plan for what the mobility system should be there in the city. Prior to this, there used to be some interventions which were taken, but largely it was based on the road capacity expansion. So now cities, whenever any such projects, metro projects need to be undertaken, what is important is there has to be a comprehensive mobility plan that has been prepared for the city. And that comprehensive mobility plan should have identified a certain set of interventions, including, say, the Rapid Transit Corridor identification, plus bus services, plus walkability, so post-off measures. And out of these, the metro system implementation is kind of taken forward by doing of the preparation of the DPRs and then the final implementation. So there is a mechanism of ensuring that different measures or sustainable mobility measures are taken into account for the city and implemented in the short, medium, or long term measures. Now, the challenge is because the transportation system is kind of fragmented, different agencies handling different aspects. Often, at as an integrated level, we are not able to view all of them together once the implementation starts. And therefore, the proposal of Apta was there with the idea that Amta may be able to coordinate all of these transport decisions, as well as ensure a monitoring mechanism in terms of where is it that we have reached. And also look at what mid course corrections, as and when, it is required to be undertaken. So there are certain mechanisms which have been set. And there are certain initiatives that are being taken to institutionalize and ensure certain other monitoring mechanisms, as well as coordinate coordination mechanisms are being set out. So we will see as to how it is spanning out. But we are surely learning along the way and trying to improvise and move ahead. We've got it. So in the sequence of the different things that you mentioned within this mechanism, what, where would you think the most important should be placed in terms of policy design decision? In this step by step, if we go, where do you think a tweak or a different perspective could play the most role? - Instead of one, I would say three. And I don't think tweaks will work. What is important is it is a big approach. We have already started on it, but how do we scale it and how do we make it big? I think that is what is important. But three things which come to my mind. The first is when we are talking about Metro, we have to think of a Metro network, rather than one or two corridors in Vega cities. And therefore, building a network is important and that should be done sooner than the lead. Then lead. The second important thing is, we have to make the transportation system people centric. So we have to think about walkable streets, comfortable and safe crossings and integrated public transport systems, which act as a choice mode. The third is we need to shift our focus from a mode focused approach to a transport system approach. So, wherein we are setting a larger goal of the transport system in terms of say, efficiency. safety could be better environment. And we have all our strategies of public transport, where Metro is aligned with bus network and services, there is walkable streets, along with push measures of parking controls and charging. So it's actually an integrated approach to mobility, where all the subsystems of transportation they come together and work towards the common goal. So that is how we need to look at the transportation system as a single goal. Got it. Thank you. Thank you so much, Ma'am. I think that was most of the points that we had. Thanks, Vibha. Get your podcasts from. Thank you for listening.