What resources do people use to reach from one place to another in Lucknow? What is the condition of movement in the city? What is its population and how many vehicles does it have? Which vehicles do people use more? What is the condition of traffic? Is there a city plan?
To find answers to such questions, Down To Earth (DTE) spoke to more than a dozen people who travelled to different parts of Lucknow. People had different reactions depending on the neighbourhood. Some were worried about traffic snarls, while others were worried about inadequate public transport. Some said the metro was restricted to a limited area, while others stressed that there was not enough parking space in the city.
Troubled by the chaos and traffic jams in Lucknow, Shivam started travelling by motocycle instead of car five years ago.
The PhD scholar at Lucknow University lives in the Aliganj neighbourhood of Lucknow. He said, “Since COVID-19, I have been going to the university by bike. The journey, which we used to complete in 20 minutes earlier, now takes 40 to 50 minutes. Construction work is going on at many places in Lucknow. Secondly, traffic management has collapsed due to the arrival of more e-rickshaws. The condition of city buses is very poor. Public transport is very time consuming. So I felt compelled to buy a bike.”
He highlighted many aspects of commuting in Lucknow: “The metro in Lucknow is not structured in the right form. It has not started in the places where it was needed the most. At some places, the condition of the roads is such that if you take a wrong turn, you will face a lot of trouble. There are some intersections where there is always a gridlock.”
Shivam also considers the cycle path built in Lucknow in 2015 as the reason for traffic jams. He says that the width of roads has reduced due to the cycle path, which has also not been used. Illegal shops have come up on the cycle path, which is broken in some places. In some other locations, parking space for two-wheelers has been made on the cycle path.
Mahendra Pratap, who travels by bike like Shivam, said, “We have a car but who wants to get stuck in a traffic jam every day? After COVID-19, the crowd in Lucknow has increased a lot. Many people did not go back to work in other cities after the pandemic. Thousands of people from other districts come to the city every day for treatment at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) and the Medical College. Thousands of vehicles enter the city. There has been no significant change in infrastructure and secondly, a concrete strategy has not been made at the management level to manage the increasing number of vehicles.”
Pratap lives in Vrindavan Colony near SGPGIMS. He said, “It now takes exactly twice the time to reach the office than before. E-rickshaws and private vehicles have increased very rapidly here. Zomato, Swiggy, Ola, Uber and all other online services use two-wheelers and four-wheelers a lot. The gig economy provides employment for people but it is a problem for the general public.”
The number of people travelling by two-wheelers in Lucknow is more than 2.1 million.
According to data recorded on the VAHAN portal of the transport department, the total number of vehicles registered in Lucknow is 3,179,651. Among these are 2,169,599 two-wheelers, 107,351 three-wheelers, 780,605 four wheelers, 6,072 ambulances, 3,290 construction equipment vehicles, 76,551 freight vehicles, 6,143 public service vehicles, 838 special category vehicles, 1,245 trailers and 27,957 tractors.
At present, Uttar Pradesh (of which Lucknow is the capital) has the highest number of electric vehicles (EVs) in India at over 414,000. The state is ahead of Delhi (183,000 EVs) and Maharashtra (179,000 EVs).
“The number of two-wheelers and four-wheelers in Lucknow is increasing by 10 to 12 per cent every year. Public transport has increased little but e-rickshaws and e-autos have increased very rapidly. A committee has been formed to control the number of e-rickshaws. The panel includes representatives of the regional transport office, the deputy commissioner of police and the district magistrate. To control increasing traffic snarls due to e-rickshaws, these should be run according to municipal corporation zones. Work is going on regarding this under the chairmanship of the district magistrate. Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of EVs and this number will only increase further in Lucknow in the future,” Sanjay Tiwari from the Lucknow RTO told DTE.
The Uttar Pradesh government, in collaboration with government think tank NITI Aayog and the Asian Development Bank, prepared a report in 2023 which contains an action plan for Lucknow till 2030. Under the Lucknow Comprehensive Electric Mobility Plan, authorities intend to increase the number of EVs in the city of Lucknow to 350,000 so that 90,000 tons of carbon emission (CO2) can be reduced every year.
In Lucknow, the number of vehicles is increasing at a much faster rate than the number of roads. In five years, the network of municipal roads has increased from 519.767 km to 1,545.984 km. The network of public works department roads was 6,200 km in 2021. This figure rose to 8,700 km in 2024. Compared to more than 3.1 million vehicles in the city, the parking capacity is less than 3,900.
Rukhsana Khatoon is a daily wage labourer. She lives in the Bihar Nagar Colony of Aishbagh neighbourhood. Every day, she goes beyond the fish market to work. It takes her more than an hour to reach her workplace. “I get Rs 450 per day, of which Rs 90 rupees is the fare. I have to walk a kilometre to catch an auto from Basti. Government buses to the city are not available on time. Even if we get a ride, it does not go directly to where we need to go. Many women from our colony go to work. The fare for each one is around Rs 100.”
Sunita Devi, who travels on a tricycle, said, “It is difficult for a common person to walk on the road. I am differently-abled and my tricycle is also a little wide. It takes me a lot of time to cover even 2-3 km. I leave early in the morning when there is no traffic snarl. I leave a little earlier in the evening after work. Even then, it takes a lot of time. No one respects the traffic signals. I often get stuck in the middle of the road when I drive.”
Except for a few select venues in Lucknow, there is no means of transport that one can avail on the main roads to go to their destinations. City buses are also not available in sufficient numbers. Shriram Yadav, who has been waiting for the city bus for 15 minutes at Aishbagh crossing, said, “I have to wait a little for the city bus. But it does not matter much as I can reach my office with less money spent. I can reach the income tax office in as little as Rs 20. If I go by auto, it will cost Rs 35-40 and I will have to catch two autos.”
The Council on Energy Environment and Water (CEEW) conducted a survey of around 900 commuters in Lucknow and found that on average, commuters have to wait for 12 minutes for a city bus while they want to wait no more than four minutes. Another finding was that about 83 per cent of women use city buses due to lack of personal vehicles, while this number is 78 per cent among men. More than 40 per cent of passengers have to walk to reach their destination after reaching the bus stop or getting off the bus.
According to the 2024 report of CEEW, only 22 per cent of bus stops in Lucknow have seating facilities. At the same time, 90 per cent of the bus stops do not have any kind of signage board. Routes are not mentioned, timetables are not displayed. There is no tactile flooring, no ramps and railings. Sixty-one per cent of the places they surveyed do not have footpaths.
Pallavi, who lives in Gomti Nagar, drives her car to office every day. She said, “Efforts are being made to make a U-turn here like in big cities. It will take time to make Lucknow like Delhi. Right now, the city is in the adaptation phase. Traffic signals are not working properly at many places. Traffic rules are not followed seriously. No special system has been created to regulate traffic due to which difficulties are increasing with each passing day.”
She further said, “During office timings, it is very difficult to go out on the road from 9:30 am to 11 am and from 6 pm to 8 pm. The higher the number of people, the greater the number of vehicles. The air-conditioner in my car runs all the time in the heat which is very harmful for the environment. There are no parking facilities in the city so that you can park your vehicle properly. This is a big problem and if this is not addressed, the situation will get worse.”
There is always a gridlock-like situation at some major crossings in Lucknow, including Hazratganj, Wallington, Charbagh, Alambagh Nahariya, SGPGIMS, Medical College, Chowk Chauraha, Polytechnic, Telibagh, Kamta, Aminabad, Dubagga, Chinhat, Cantt, Lal Batti Square, Kesarbagh, Novelty, National PG College Square, Hanumant Dham, Nishatganj, Daliganj to IT Square, Indira Gandhi Pratishthan Square, Alamnagar Bridge, Power House Square, BBD and IT Square.
Hafeez Kidwai, a writer by profession who lives in Old Lucknow, used to travel in his personal vehicle earlier. He then shifted to autos and now travels by Ola and Uber. Kidwai said, “In the last 20 years, the number of vehicles has increased tremendously. The roads have not been widened. Wherever there was a traffic snarl, flyovers were built. Those flyovers were brought down to the intersections. If the road is six lanes, the intersection was made of two lanes. There is not much load in Lucknow but there is a lack of management. Five-six bus stations and countless taxi stands have been built. The city is full of e-rickshaws. E-rickshaws are driven everywhere except VIP Road, which also leads to huge traffic jams.”
Kidwai added that there used to be a lot of traffic snarls in the Nakkhas neighbourhood’s Victoria State. “A flyover was built over it. A road connecting Old Lucknow to New Lucknow was built. When the traffic on it increased, a flyover was built from La Martinere to Kulia Ghat. To reduce traffic jams, the number of flyovers in the city increased rapidly. But still, there was no relief from traffic jams. Footpaths and cycle paths were removed. But nothing improved. Older roads are better. If any event or protest takes place between Hazratganj and the chief minister’s residence, the entire city faces traffic jams. Although this is the heart of the city, it has also not been repaired.”
Shaheed Path, a four-lane outer road, was built in Lucknow to divert traffic and reduce snarls. But it becomes completely gridlocked when there is a cricket match or any event in the Ekana Stadium.
The metro has started running in the city, but is limited to just one section. Work has not even started where it is most needed. Passengers would benefit a lot if there was a metro in Old Lucknow, Medical College, SGPGIMS, Telibagh, Chinhat, BBD, Nakkhas, Kapurthala, Dubagga, Gomtinagar, Madiaon and Rajajipuram.
The e-rickshaw has been singled out as the reason for traffic jams in the city. However, e-rickshaw drivers are a harried lot. Om Prakash Yadav, who drives an e-rickshaw, said, “Sometimes the traffic jam is so terrible that it takes an hour to reach Charbagh from Aminabad. I have been driving since the time the fare from Aminabad to Charbagh was Rs 2. Earlier, I used to drive a pedal rickshaw. Now, I have been driving an e-rickshaw for the last 10 years. Vehicles have increased but not the roads.”
This article is part of our series on how India moves, which looks at the relationship between air quality and human mobility in cities and towns