In India, there is a lack of public transport infrastructure and usability?
In the mobility industry, India doesn’t lack public transport infrastructure as much as it lacks cohesion. The real challenge is that these transport systems operate in silos. The gap between infrastructure and usability is where the real cost lies.
Every day, commuters make a quiet trade-off between certainty and sustainability. When public transport feels unpredictable, people shift to private vehicles, and congestion rises. The impact is visible across Mumbai. AQI levels hover between 120–180 on most days, with consistently high PM 2.5 levels contributing to poor air quality.
The city loses an estimated ₹60,000 crore annually to traffic congestion. A single local train can remove around 1,000 cars from the road, and even a 2% shift from private vehicles to public transport could mean 40,000 fewer vehicles during peak hours, reducing congestion by up to 15% and leading to a measurable drop in PM 2.5 levels.
Yet today, commuters still lose an average of 8 days a year sitting in traffic. The infrastructure to enable this shift already exists. What is missing is trust and that comes from reliable, real-time information.
Which sustainable development goals are getting impacted by lack of access to public transport, if we talk about a big city like Mumbai and a small town like Surat?
Public transport is one of those invisible systems that quietly powers multiple Sustainable Development Goals, and when it breaks, the impact shows up everywhere.
In Mumbai, the issue links strongly to SDG 3 (Good Health & Well-being) and SDG 13 (Climate Action). High dependence on private vehicles due to gaps in seamless connectivity contributes to congestion and poor air quality, directly affecting public health. When commuters spend hours in traffic and breathe polluted air daily, it’s not only a mobility issue but also a health crisis in slow motion.
In a city like Surat, the impact is more about SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 5 (Gender Equality). Limited or unreliable public transport can restrict access to colleges and workplaces, especially for women and students who rely heavily on safe, affordable mobility.
If getting to a classroom or workplace isn’t dependable, participation drops. What’s common across both cities is that mobility shapes opportunity. When transport systems aren’t accessible or reliable, they slow movement and quietly determine who gets access to opportunities and who gets left behind.
What are the visible and invisible economics involved when shifting from private to public transport?
If you look at mobility through an economic lens, the biggest gains aren’t always the most obvious. In Mumbai, shifting from private vehicles to public transport can save individuals up to ₹1,00,000 annually, while even a small 1-2% shift can remove 20,000-40,000 vehicles from roads and reduce the ₹60,000 crore annual loss due to congestion.
However, the real story lies in the invisible economics. It’s the hours reclaimed from traffic, often 45-60 minutes a day, the productivity that comes with it, and the reduced stress on both people and infrastructure. So while the financial savings are evident, the deeper value is in getting more time, improved efficiency, and quality of life, things that compound gradually but powerfully at scale.
How do data monopolies play a role in the overall transport economy?
Data monopolies quietly shape how people move and therefore how cities function economically. In a system as vast as Mumbai with multiple transit modes, the real power lies in who can see the full picture. When mobility data sits in silos or with a few players, the system becomes opaque.
Commuters don’t get reliable, real-time information, and that uncertainty pushes them toward private vehicles. That has a direct economic cost. More private vehicles mean higher congestion, more time lost in traffic, and higher carbon emissions. Essentially, when data isn’t open or integrated, the public transport infrastructure becomes under-utilised despite existing capacity.
On the flip side, when data is democratised and layered effectively, it unlocks the true potential of the system. Real-time visibility across trains, buses, and metro reduces friction, builds trust, and nudges behavioural shifts at scale. So data monopolies limit access to information and access to efficient mobility itself.
How will you define the modern public transport system, on this World Public Transport Day?
A modern public transport system is no longer defined just by infrastructure, it’s defined by how seamlessly people can use it. It’s not only trains, buses, and metros running at scale, but also a connected ecosystem where planning, access, and real-time, accurate information comes together, allowing commuters to plan journeys effortlessly across modes.
When public transport becomes intuitive and reliable, it naturally becomes the first choice, not the fallback. Modern public transport is as much about the information layer as it is about the physical network. When the system feels easy and dependable, choosing public transport becomes instinctive. And when that shift happens at scale, it improves commutes and unlocks time, reduces costs and congestion on roads, cuts emissions, and transforms how a city lives and breathes every day.
