UPSC Mains 2019 GS Paper 1 Q16: model answer

The Delhi Metro carried over 70 lakh passenger journeys on its busiest days in 2024. Each of those trips is a worker reaching a job without a car, which is why mass transport is growth infrastructure, not just a convenience.

Economic benefits

• Connects workers to jobs, expanding labour markets and agglomeration economies.
• Saves travel time and fuel; reduces congestion costs.
• Supports real estate, retail and transit-oriented development.
• Construction creates jobs and demand for steel and cement.

Social and environmental benefits

• Affordable mobility for the poor, women and students; safer travel.
• Lower emissions and air pollution compared with private vehicles.

Indian initiatives

• Metro rail in many cities (Delhi Metro since 2002); RRTS (Delhi–Meerut); BRTS in Ahmedabad.
• National Urban Transport Policy (2006), Metro Rail Policy (2017), PM e-Bus Sewa, FAME for electric buses.

Challenges

• High capital costs, low ridership in some metros, lack of last-mile connectivity and integration.

Way forward

• Multimodal integration, common mobility cards, transit-oriented development, walking and cycling infrastructure.

Evidence of returns

• Studies on the Delhi Metro estimate annual savings in time, fuel and accidents worth thousands of crores, and lower vehicular emissions.
• Kochi Metro's integrated water metro and feeder services show how integration raises ridership.

Financing models

• Value capture finance through land around stations (Hyderabad Metro was built in public–private partnership).
• Last-mile gaps still hurt: feeder buses, shared autos and safe footpaths decide whether a commuter actually uses the metro, and ridership in several new metros has stayed well below projections for this reason.

Efficient, affordable mass transport is not just a convenience; it is economic infrastructure. It can make Indian cities engines of growth.