Public transport - Question of Cities

Shab-Parak: Night fliers of Delhi bus that’s a community

As India’s national capital sleeps, night buses keep the city connected and their commuters find the true meaning of accessible and affordable public transport. Shab-Parak, a short film which won the silver at the Nagari 2024 awards, captures the story…

Small but significant changes for gender-inclusive cities

Safe and clean public spaces, accessible convenience areas and toilets at regular intervals, areas that they can rest for a while, streets and footpaths that do not threaten even in the dark, responsive mechanism to complaints are some of the…

How cities are changing from ‘patriarchy in stone, brick’

Innumerable studies have revealed alarming data on the rising crimes against women in public spaces. Aiming to make the outdoors safer, a few cities across the world have taken deliberate steps and adopted ideas to make women feel safe and…

Delhi’s buses hold the key to better public transport and climate action

Between 1981 and 2021, motor vehicles in Delhi increased by a staggering 21 times, showing people’s shift away from public transport. This has contributed to the annual CO2 emissions of 69.4 million tonnes, equal to the combined emissions of Hyderabad,…

Cycling in Mumbai: Frail and failed transit plans for the masses

The climate-friendly mode of transport has been sidelined in the city’s mobility infrastructure which backs large automobile-centric projects. The absence of dedicated cycling tracks makes roads unsafe for cyclists who are forced to share the right of way with speeding…

Kolkata: When the circle of mobility comes back to trams, buses, and ferries

Once served well by its dependable bus system, tram network, and ferries on Hooghly River, the city has seen a predictable shift to cars and motorised two-wheelers in recent decades. The share of people walking, cycling and using public transport…

Sorry, but flyovers will never ease Guwahati’s traffic woes

The scourge of metropolitan cities – congested roads, rising motorised vehicles, growth in private transport – is now in Assam’s largest city too. Guwahati with its growing population and intricate network of smaller lanes connecting to major arterial roads, poses…

Walk the talk on public transport, invest with sound mathematics

Cities are all about space. Both private and public transport must be seen from this perspective. Private transport is uneconomical for cities, especially like Mumbai, because cars carry fewer people but occupy more comparative space than other modes like buses.…

Mumbai’s last-mile connectivity matters the most, needs an urgent upgrade

Although Mumbai is hailed for its clockwork-like public transport options such as the suburban trains and local buses that are relatively safe, accessible and affordable, large parts of the city suffer from the last-mile connectivity problem. The last-mile connectivity, or…

‘Move people back into trains and buses, it’s affordable and it’s climate action’

As cities in India see a rise in private transport, the modal share of public transport has declined. This varies from city to city but nowhere is it more stark than in Mumbai which was once famed for its accessible…