Why are Indians shunning the country’s shiny new metro lines?
Costly fares, inconvenience and poor planning all play a role
WHEN NARENDRA MODI became India’s prime minister in 2014, the country’s entire metro-rail network spanned 229km (142 miles) in four-and-a-half cities: Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon (a satellite of Delhi), Kolkata and Mumbai. That amounted to less than half the length of Shanghai’s metro at the time. Yet Mr Modi’s government has since presided over a massive metro-rail expansion. By last April India’s network covered 870km in 18 cities.
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This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Off track”
From the December 23rd 2023 edition
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