Introduction

Cities are paramount to India’s sustained economic growth, with the urban population expected to reach 590 million by 2031^[1]. This anticipated surge necessitates optimal, cost-efficient, and effective public transport systems for sustainable urban development.

Traditionally, Indian cities rely on bus-based systems (city buses and bus rapid transit systems), rail-based systems (metro rail, suburban rail, trams), and private shared mobility (paratransit or intermediate public transport systems). Against the current demand of 130,000 buses (estimated to increase to 220,000 by 2031), 127 Indian cities offer formal bus services with a fleet size of 46,000 buses. Of these, 36,000 buses are operational in 53 cities with a population of over 1 million^[2]. Wide variations exist even in these cities. For example, Bengaluru operates 53 buses per 100,000 people (the highest). In comparison, Lucknow has six buses per 100,000 people (the lowest), with all other cities falling within this spectrum^[3]. Of the 36,000 buses owned by the 127 cities, 82 percent are operational in megacities alone. Unorganised systems, including private bus services and/or intermediate public transport, fulfil the enormous unmet demand in other cities.

Metro rail systems are currently operational in 20 cities, with networks under construction in seven cities^[4]. Four cities are evaluating proposals for metro rail, and feasibility studies for Metro Lite are ongoing for 20 cities. Additionally, three others are exploring the feasibility of Metro Neo^[5]. While metro rail is increasingly considered a panacea for transport woes by several cities and towns across India, their ridership is not commensurate with the carriage capacities, with several operational metro systems far from achieving their projected ridership. Conversely, ridership data for bus-based transit systems consistently exhibit higher bus commuter volumes than metro ridership in most cities with operational metro rail. For example, in nine cities with operational metro rail, passengers use buses up to 20 times more than the metro services despite an enormous bus shortage.

Transport service optimisation through strategic planning and multimodal coordination can fulfil the diverse mobility needs of different cities and their populations. Addressing integration gaps at the institutional, operational, and informational levels, and enhancing physical and fare integration is vital to unlocking a more interconnected and user-friendly public transport experience across Indian cities.

The institutional arrangements of these urban public transport systems are often fragmented, lack a unified command structure and a cohesive decision-making authority, and have poor stakeholder involvement. Despite mandates from key national initiatives such as the National Urban Transport Policy^[6], Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission^[7], Metro Rail Policy^[8], and several other central programmes advocating the establishment of a unified metropolitan transport authority (UMTA) to oversee the diverse modes of transport, its implementation remains limited. Without sufficient legislative support and empowerment, concerns also persist regarding the efficacy of UMTAs where they exist.

These institutional shortcomings hinder the establishment of integrated multimodal transport systems, increasing travel times and costs. Major urban centres, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata, lose an estimated US$22 billion annually to road congestion^[9]. Moreover, the institutional mechanism and its requirements differ based on a city’s size and the complexity of public transport systems. Integration across public transport's different institutional, operational, informational, and fare aspects is necessary for efforts like the ‘National Common Mobility Card’^[10] to succeed.

This volume is divided into three sections encompassing the critical aspects of multimodal transport integration: Institutional and Governance Integration, Physical and Operational Integration, and Fare and Information Integration.

Essay contributors—including industry and government representatives, mobility service providers, researchers, and academics—identify the challenges and barriers, and recommend an actionable policy roadmap for urban India to transition toward integrated and sustainable multimodal transport systems.

Poonam Sabikhi, C. Sathiya Narayanan, and Akila S. set the tone for this series by evaluating the performance of the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA), a pioneering body operationalised with a legislative sanction in 2022 to coordinate among various transport modes, improve physical and operational integration, and foster sustainable urban mobility. They emphasise the need for policy-level integration to address congestion, inefficiencies, and lack of intermodal connectivity. Drawing on international best practices from London (UK), Singapore, and South Korea, the essay advocates empowering CUMTA and similar authorities across India with financial autonomy, regulatory powers, advanced technology-driven data-sharing mechanisms, and institutional capacity.

Often ignored in mobility planning, adequate parking facilities are pivotal for efficient, multimodal public transport systems in bustling metropolises like Mumbai. Prachi Merchant and Dhaval Desai’s essay underscores the significance of integrating parking facilities into Mumbai’s multimodal transport strategy. It highlights global best practices and discusses challenges, including disjointed institutional responsibilities, limited land availability, and ad hoc parking policies, which exacerbate congestion and impede seamless transit in cities of the Global South. The essay advocates urban mobility strategies to have parking an essential component through smart technology, integrated planning, and participatory governance, enabling sustainable urban mobility and reduced emissions.

Next, Roshan Toshniwal delves into the challenges faced by Indian cities due to fragmented transport governance and the limited effectiveness of UMTAs. He recommends learning from global best practices, like Transport for London and the Seoul Transport Operation and Information Service, and harnessing advanced digital tools and data-sharing mechanisms to empower UMTAs. By transforming UMTAs into robust, data-driven authorities, Indian cities can foster multimodal integration, mitigate congestion, and pave the way for sustainable and efficient urban mobility solutions, he argues.

Damodar Pujari and Dhaval Desai highlight how micromobility provided by small, lightweight vehicles like bicycles and e-scooters can address urban mobility challenges in India by providing first- and last-mile connectivity. It presents case studies from cities like Copenhagen (Denmark), Barcelona (Spain), and London (UK), for mainstreaming micromobility in transport plans to ease urban congestion and reduce environmental impacts. It recommends targeted investments, policy focus, and infrastructure development to integrate micromobility into urban transport systems.

The next section on physical and operational integration begins with Nandan Dawda and Firsat Mulla’s essay, which explores the critical role of informal public transport (IPT) systems, particularly autorickshaws, in urban India’s mobility landscape. Though they fill the gaps in formal public transport systems, IPT operations face challenges such as poor regulation, operational inefficiencies, and exploitation by aggregator platforms. The essay examines the Ola, Uber, Namma Yatri and InDrive models in India and global best practices, such as Rwanda’s reforms and Senegal’s financial mechanisms, that successfully formalised and improved IPT systems. Finally, it advocates for multimodal integration through mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) platforms to enhance urban mobility comprehensively.

Drawing on global best practices from cities like Tokyo (Japan), London, and Singapore, the following essay by Samir Sharma emphasises the critical role of seamless physical and operational coordination among diverse transit modes to reduce travel times and improve commuter convenience. It highlights the Regional rapid transit system in India’s National Capital Region as a model of integration, featuring interoperable corridors, multimodal transit complexes, and real-time operational data, and how it aims to improve connectivity between urban and regional networks, promote sustainability, and expand public transport usage. It urges strategic planning, stakeholder coordination, and technology adoption to create efficient and sustainable urban mobility frameworks.

In their essay, Mitali Nikore and Brinda Juneja identify the gaps in India’s urban transport systems that hinder the ease of access and safe mobility of women, girls, and other marginalised groups. With women comprising the majority of public transport users in Indian cities, the authors suggest ways to overcome systemic barriers like affordability, accessibility, and inclusivity in design. Drawing on global best practices and case studies, they propose a four-pillar strategy to reimagine urban mobility, provide safer commutes and equitable opportunities, and foster inclusive urban growth.

Next, Himani Jain and Krishna Khanna explore using smartphone GPS data to enhance public transport systems in Delhi. They leverage aggregated GPS data to analyse travel patterns and identify gaps in bus services to optimise accessibility, service reliability, and multimodal integration. They combine this data with generalised transit feed specification data to assess public transport demand, mainly focusing on underserved areas and peak-hour gaps. Acknowledging smartphone GPS datasets’ social and demographic limitations, the study highlights how their evaluation can aid infrastructure improvements and service optimisation. The authors urge mainstreaming this approach for cost-effective, real-time data sharing for better planning and multimodal coordination in the public transport sector.

The final section on fare and information integration begins with an essay by Nandan Dawda that highlights the role of trip planners in achieving an integrated and sustainable multimodal transport system. Analysing trip planners in 25 global cities—20 Indian and five international (London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Paris, and New York)—the essay develops an evaluation framework to assess the trip planners’ performance across six components: (i) features, (ii) status updates, (iii) maps, (iv) fare integration, (v) help and contact, and (vi) other useful commuter information. Inferences from the framework indicate why India must adopt a standardised framework, incorporating real-time data, and enhancing user-centric features to improve urban mobility solutions in Indian cities.

Mohit Kalawatia and Balaje Rajeraman highlight the challenges to multimodal transportation integration, such as data standardisation, interoperability, and stakeholder coordination, and emphasise the role of technology, shared mobility, and MaaS platforms. They recommend the universal adoption of India’s Open Network Digital Commerce to accelerate the transition of India’s cities to an integrated transportation system that provides seamless scheduling, a single-window ticketing system across modes and real-time information sharing among transport service providers, making public transport attractive, accessible, and equitable for all classes of commuters.

Partha Mukhopadhyay and Gurkirat Singh Juneja’s essay emphasises fare and information integration across transport modes as critical enablers of the imperative shift from private to public transport in India to address climate concerns and accommodate rapid urbanisation. By studying informal transit modes like autorickshaws alongside formal systems, the authors highlight the need for these to be included in an integrated framework. The essay evaluates how various best practices of fare integration, including fare unification, digital ticketing, and frequency optimisation, offer lessons for India.

In the final essay, Aditya Rane highlights how disparate fare policies between buses and metro systems undermine the affordability and accessibility of multimodal travel, particularly for vulnerable commuters. Drawing on examples from cities like Pune and Mumbai and global cases like Singapore, his essay emphasises streamlining fare policies, implementing universal travel passes, and extending welfare schemes across modes. It recommends empowering UMTA with the power to regulate fares, adopting unified payment systems like the National Common Mobility Card, and promoting inclusive policies to ensure increased ridership, financial sustainability and equitable access to public transport.

A well-integrated multimodal transport system needs robust interagency collaboration, innovative technologies, and a user-centric approach. With focused efforts, India can achieve sustainable and equitable urban mobility for its rapidly growing cities and set a benchmark for several other cities in the Global South. Rapid urbanisation and an expanding technology base can catalyse an efficient and inclusive urban mobility ecosystem in India. However, it must simultaneously address issues of fragmented governance, infrastructural bottlenecks, and diverse socioeconomic needs.

Endnotes

^[1] National Institute of Urban Affairs, Cities Insight Report, New Delhi, National Institute of Urban Affairs, 2020, https://niua.in/intranet/sites/default/files/2160.pdf

^[2] WRI India, Public Private Partnerships in Bus Operations in Indian Cities, May 2021, https://shaktifoundation.in/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Annex-5-PPP-in-Bus-Operations-in-Indian-cities.pdf

^[3] Nandan Dawda, “A Matter of Choice: Determining Public Transport Systems in Urban India,” ORF, February 12, 2024, https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/a-matter-of-choice-determining-public-transport-systems-for-urban-india

^[4] Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, Annual Report 2022-23, https://mohua.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/2688HUA-ENGLISH-19-4-2023.pdf

^[5] “Home,” The Metro Rail Guy, https://themetrorailguy.com/

^[6] Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, National Urban Transport Policy, New Delhi, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, 2006, https://mohua.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/TransportPolicy.pdf

^[7] Ministry of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation and Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission: Overview, New Delhi, Ministry of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation and Ministry of Urban Development, 2005, https://mohua.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/1Mission%20Overview%20English(1).pdf

^[8] Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, Metro Rail Policy 2017, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, 2017, https://www.mohua.gov.in/upload/whatsnew/59a3f7f130eecMetro_Rail_Policy_2017.pdf

^[9] Vincent Chin, Mariam Jafar, Suresh Subudhi, Nikita Shelomentsev, Duong Do and Irfan Prawiradinata, Boston Consulting Group, Unlocking Cities: The impact of ridesharing across India, Boston Consulting Group, 2018, https://web-assets.bcg.com/img-src/BCG-Unlocking-Cities-Ridesharing-India_tcm9-185213.pdf

^[10] Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

• Urbanisation
• Transportation
• India
• bus transit
• congestion
• data-sharing
• digital tools
• fare integration
• Governance
• inclusive design
• metro systems
• micromobility
• multimodal integration
• parking integration
• Public Transport
• real-time information
• sustainable transport
• unified authority
• urban mobility

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