Mumbai, Delhi ranked lowest among 6o global cities for public transit systems

Living in a metropolitan Indian city requires an arsenal of products to protect our physical and mental well-being. For instance, it’s not enough to carry good sunscreen; we also need to ensure they last for hours-long delays that Indian public transportation modes are famous for.

This is a saddening scenario, especially considering that most of the Indian population relies on public transportation for their daily bread. Therefore, being ranked as one of the worst cities to travel in can be a huge blow and eye-opener for a country like ours. Additionally, since public transportation contributes to a significant portion of total greenhouse gas emissions, having a well-oiled, effective and sustainable public transit system can work wonders for the environment as well.

According to a report by the Oliver Wyman Forum and the University of California, Mumbai and Delhi have been awarded some of the lowest ranks regarding urban mobility in cities. Among 60 cities worldwide, Mumbai and Delhi ranked 52nd and 50th in the 2022 Urban Mobility Readiness Index — an scale that measures how prepared these cities are for “mobility’s next chapter”.

Probing deeper, Mumbai ranked the worse out of the two overall, garnering the 52nd, 55th and 41st position out of 60 global cities in the Urban Mobility Readiness Index, Sustainable Mobility and Public Transit indices, respectively. While Delhi fared slightly better at 50th, 46th and 35th in these categories, respectively, its overall position still remains abysmal.

The Public Transit Index measures how well cities are "maintaining mass transit networks and how many people use it." Meanwhile, the Sustainable Mobility index measures how well these cities are making the pivot towards net-zero mobility. Many European cities consistently dominate the tops of these rankings.

The report outlines that Delhi’s weak traffic management system regularly causes gridlock and traffic congestion. In addition, the city scored poorly on many social impact indicators, such as safety, pollution, and national employment in the traffic sector. These scores are much below the global and Asia-Pacific averages.

Meanwhile, the report explains that Mumbai suffers from various mobility-related environmental problems such as traffic congestion, poor air quality, noise and light pollution, leading to its woeful scores.

However, due to its affordability, the report also lauded both cities’ promising public transit systems, such as the metro. The report goes on to explain that the relatively low car ownership levels in Mumbai and Delhi could aid with amending congestion and air quality in the future.

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