Type
Position Papers
Author
Dinesh Mohan
Organization
Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (India
Published in
2008
Submitted by
Peter Midgley, gTKP
Related theme(s)
Urban Mobility
Region
Asia (AS)
Country
India

Mythologies, Metros & Future Urban Transport

There is still no clear vision among planners, policy makers and transport experts about what
cities in India need and what will make them better places to live in as far as mobility and
access are concerned. The prevailing mythology is that construction of metro rail systems will
somehow solve problems of the future and they remain the single one point agenda of almost
all transport consultants in India. Review of urban mass transport systems over the past
century shows that metro systems were the obvious choice when relatively inexpensive cars
and two-wheelers were not available. With the introduction of efficient buses, computer and
information technologies to manage large fleets, and the need to have flexible, medium
capacity systems that go close to homes and destinations, bus rapid transit systems with
dedicated lanes seem to be the only choice for providing affordable mass transport in our
cities.