Delhi, Mumbai ranked lowest among 60 global cities in terms of urban mobility

New Delhi, India (Urban Transport News): Public transportation system contributes to a significant portion of total greenhouse gas emissions, having a well-oiled, effective and sustainable transit system can work wonders for the environment as well.

According to a report published by the Oliver Wyman Forum and the University of California, Delhi and Mumbai have been given some of the lowest ranks in terms of development of urban mobility in cities. Among 60 cities worldwide, Delhi and Mumbai ranked 50th and 52nd in the 2022 Urban Mobility Readiness Index — an scale that measures how prepared these cities are for “mobility’s next chapter”.

Probing deeper, Mumbai ranked the worse out of the two overall, garnering the 52nd, 55th and 41st position out of 60 global cities in the Urban Mobility Readiness Index, Sustainable Mobility and Public Transit indices, respectively. While Delhi fared slightly better at 50th, 46th and 35th in these categories, respectively, its overall position still remains abysmal.

The Public Transit Index measures how well cities are "maintaining mass transit networks and how many people use it." Meanwhile, the Sustainable Mobility index measures how well these cities are making the pivot towards net-zero mobility. Many European cities consistently dominate the tops of these rankings.

The report outlines that Delhi’s weak traffic management system regularly causes gridlock and traffic congestion. In addition, the city scored poorly on many social impact indicators, such as safety, pollution, and national employment in the traffic sector. These scores are much below the global and Asia-Pacific averages.

Meanwhile, the report explains that Mumbai suffers from various mobility-related environmental problems such as traffic congestion, poor air quality, noise and light pollution, leading to its woeful scores.

However, due to its affordability, the report also lauded both cities’ promising public transit systems, such as the metro. The report goes on to explain that the relatively low car ownership levels in Mumbai and Delhi could aid with amending congestion and air quality in the future.