Urban Transport Infrastructure November 2018 Urban Transport Infra November 2018 | Page 27

Road Transportation
80% Indians feel last
mile connectivity key
to improve public
transport ridership
- Anupa Sagar Kujur | moneycontrol.com
A
t a time when mobility is
driving economic growth
in the country, 80 percent
of commuters feel first-and
last-mile connectivity holds the key
to improve public transport ridership,
according to an Ease of Moving Index
2018 report by Ola’s Mobility
Institute.
Almost 70 percent of the public
transport users currently rely on cabs,
autos, and non-motorised transports
(NMTs), according to the report. It
means users have to either walk or
take an auto to reach the nearest
public transport service such as a bus
stand, local station, or metro
terminal.
Commuters
believe
if
the
government fills this gap in the first-
and-last-mile connectivity, ridership
in public transport will go up as
around 60 percent of the current non-
users will be willing to shift to public
transport.
Currently,
public
transport
accounts for 34 percent of the total
transportation across India. About 58
percent of the commuters use their
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personal two or four-wheelers for
transportation, while around eight
percent of the respondents use shared
transportation, according to a report by
McKinsey.
In India, over
80 percent of
commuters use public transport on
account of it being affordable, time-
saving and convenient. Kolkata offers
the most affordable transport services,
whereas Delhi provides the most
comfortable transport to its citizens,
the report by Ola said.
On
the
cleanliness
front,
Ahmedabad leads the way in offering
cleanest public transport services.
Patna tops with the least travel time
required to go for work trips as the city
is well served by intermediate public
transport (IPTs).
Among metro cities, Kolkata leads
the ease of mobility index at 5.42,
followed by New Delhi (5.32) and
Chennai (5.27). Mumbai ranks sixth
with an index of 4.95.
The high willingness of passengers to
use public transport can be used to
make policies catering to specific needs
of different users by improving service
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levels, real-time information, providing
clean public transport, improving
frequency and better route planning.
According to a World Bank report,
India's rural areas are home to almost
70 percent of India's population but 33
percent of India’s villages do not have
access to all-weather roads and remain
cut off during the monsoon season. The
problem is more acute in India's
northern and northeastern states which
are poorly linked to the country’s
major economic centers.
Good quality infrastructure is
critical to ensure ease of moving and
infrastructure development has been
one of the key interest areas of this
government as the allocation has
jumped approximately 40 percent in
three years. Union Budget for 2018-19
gave a massive push to National
Highways as the budgetary allocation
was pegged at INR 71,000 crore, up
from INR 61,000 crore allocated during
2017-18.
In the World Bank's latest Ease of
Doing Business rankings, India
leapfrogged to the 77th rank mainly
due to improvement in granting of
Urban Transport Infrastructure | November 2018