Maharashtra cities top ease of moving index, Delhi shows max decline in transport reliability

NEW DELHI: Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad in Maharashtra topped the list of 40 prominent cities in terms of ease of movement and ease of reaching destination in 2022, according to a study carried out by a not-for-profit entity. In the list, Mumbai ranked second and Coimbatore came third, followed by Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Indore.
The second edition of “Ease of Moving Index” by the Ola Mobility Institute (OMI) Foundation was released on Tuesday based on the survey of more than 50,000 citizens, focus group discussions and government data. As per the report, Aizawl in Mizoram emerged as a top performer in clean mobility, while almost everyone in Nagaland’s capital Kohima had a bicycle. Among the cities, mobility spend was the lowest in Jabalpur and Kanpur emerged as the safest city to travel on public transport.
The study also found that Pune had the most inclusive mobility ecosystem and the public transport usage among women and the trans or non-binary was the highest in Ludhiana. Among these cities, almost everyone in Raipur-Nava Raipur used public transport on a daily basis, the report said.

The first edition of “Ease of Moving Index” published in 2018 had covered only 20 cities.
A comparative analysis of the same set of 20 common cities in the two reports show that the share of people using personal vehicles for movement has increased across all the cities, except Bhubaneswar and Jammu, in the past four years. In the case of the share of people using public transport in these cities, Mumbai witnessed the biggest jump of 28%, followed by Kochi (25%) between 2018 and 2022. Barring Surat and Kolkata, all other mega cities covered in the study saw an increase in the share of people using public transport.

Among the mega cities, the reliability of public transport also increased during this period, except for Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad. The study shows that the maximum decline in reliability was in Delhi at 10%, followed by Kolkata (13%). Ahmedabad and Surat registered a big jump of 11% each on this parameter.
One of the most worrying findings of the study is the public perception about the footpath condition during the past four years. The comparative analysis shows that barring in Jabalpur and Kohima, the condition of footpath has deteriorated and Kolkata has recorded the worst on this parameter followed by Delhi.