Air

Highlights from the issue

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DTE Staff

How India moves: Gridlocked

Mumbai, India

Our analysis of 40 cities reveals a brutally simple fact — Urban India is gridlocked and congested, and the problem is not limited to big cities

Delhi: Forever stuck

Ajmal Khan Road in Karol Bagh and the Red Fort-Fatehpuri axis of Shahjahanabad were Delhi’s flagship pedestrian corridors. Now, these areas are drifting back to the original status quo.

Bold transport reforms for the national capital promised cleaner air, but poor execution and fragmented oversight have left Delhi grasping

Kolkata: Smoke hazard

Despite poor air quality, West Bengal's capital is considering revival of polluting, ageing commercial vehicles

Mumbai: Car focused

Choked marine drive in Mumbai.

In India's financial capital, construction of flyovers, coastal roads and sea links—initiatives that cater primarily to cars—have coincided with a rise in private vehicles  

Bengaluru: Perpetual jam

Many people in the city prefer not to use the metro because the stations are inaccessible. Some prefer to walk.

Road congestion is the result of a city that did not grow, but exploded in terms of population and vehicle ownership

Chennai: Weak network

Peak-hour crowd at Saidapet bus shelter. Chennai falls short of the buses needed to support its residents

Decline in public transport, rise in private vehicles, and poor first- and last-mile connectivity leave Tamil Nadu's capital congested

Hyderabad: Costly crawl

Hyderabad metro train zooms past through the Panjagutta circle, one of the most-busy traffic junctions in Hyderabad city. Metro services are yet to catch up with the needs of the city even as the city continues to add more two and three wheelers onto the roads.

Preference for private over public transport in Telangana's capital has contributed to slow-moving traffic, road congestion

Video: How do Indians commute?

Dig into Down To Earth's exploration of the extent and scale of India’s mobility crisis