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Abstract
Rapid urbanization is considered as the most significant activity of the 21st Century. As India transforms from an agrarian economy to services driven nation, the spatial domain is undergoing transformation, evolving towards an urban dominant nation by 2050. Against this backdrop, the mobility needs of the people are set to increase at a rapid pace.
Perpetual congestion on urban roads in India despite the relatively lower private vehicular ownership and the poor state of public transport scenario calls for promoting other options which can enhance the quality of mobility for the citizens.
The magnitude of this colossal issue which is transforming into a menace has advertently led us to think of better ways of managing the mobility of our urban centres. One such solution which many cities have adopted for, is the greater emphasis on public transportation. Within public transport, to enhance its quality, the emphasis on the mass transits. Delhi being one of the early adopters of Rail based mass transit has witnessed Delhi Metro sprung up from virtually nowhere to now becoming the lifeline of Delhi-ites.
But whether the metro has achieved what it was aimed and envisaged for, in quantitative basis, is a point worth debating. A closer analysis reveals that though Metro has finally provided a superior public transport experience to the city’s residents, its actual usability in terms of the modal share it has managed to garner, does remain a point of major contention for the transport planners as well as the other cities who are emulating similar solutions.
The study emphasises on exploring the reasons for the low metro usage for the Higher SEC Households and suggest measures to increase the patronage of public transport, specifically Delhi Metro amongst them. Therefore, an alternative approach to increasing the usage of metro, which is based on the type of income group present in the vicinity of the metro stations has been explored and results derived thereof.