Bhubaneswar: Bhubaneswar tops the list in terms of providing a seamless mobility experience and ranks third with an overall score of 34.2 among the 11 promising cities having a projected population of up to 10 lakh, according to a survey tracking public transport and mobility.
The state capital has the shortest perceived access and wait time, which is indicative of the extensive mass transit coverage with adequate transit stops at regular intervals in the city, the Ease of Moving Index (EoMI) Report 2022 said.
Commuting in Bhubaneswar is also considered safest amongst the promising cities – Shimla, Kochi, Udaipur, Agartala, Aizawal, Panaji, Kohima, Dehradun, Thiruvananthapuram and Jammu. “While public transport in Udaipur and Shimla were perceived to be most accessible by persons with functional difficulties, commuting in Bhubaneswar was considered safest amongst the ‘Promising Cities’, hence all the three cities scored highest in this parameter,” it said.
The Odisha capital scored the highest on efficient and reliable mobility as over 41 per cent respondents agreed that the roads are adequately wide and therefore have less traffic with over 78 per cent respondents commuting less than 30 minutes to reach their place of work. “Almost 26 per cent of public transport users can access the nearest transit stop within ten minutes by walk or cycle. Capital Region Urban Transport, Bhubaneswar’s public bus transport operator, has made strides in enabling access to necessary information through multiple mediums as over 64 percent commuters agree information about public transport is easily available,” the report said.
“Commuters in Bhubaneswar with a monthly household income of up to Rs 30,000 spend on an average almost 26 per cent of their income towards commuting – the highest across all cities. Despite this, over 40 percent of these commuters found public transport affordable between any two points in the city,” it added.
Similarly, Kochi, the only city with an operational metro, holds the greatest promise for the adoption of active and shared mobility while Aizawl, Mizoram’s capital, is the top performer in clean mobility and has the highest adoption of cashless payments for mobility services. Kohima has the highest share of active mobility, with almost every household owning a bicycle.
However, the concentration of PM2.5 in Bhubaneswar and Jammu were the highest among these 11 cities.
With over 40 km of bicycle lane, most cyclists felt that Bhubaneswar had adequate cycling infrastructure. The Public Bicycle Sharing (PBS) system was successfully launched with three operators in 2018 but is now facing operational challenges, the reported noted.
It further said that Bhubaneswar use three or more applications to commute, among all cities in this cluster. “The Mo Bus application by Capital Region Urban Transport, Bhubaneswar’s public transport authority, enables commuters to plan their journey, provide real time updates on bus locations and also allows purchase of tickets and passes digitally. Such applications can aid faster adoption of digital mobility in public transport,” it added.
Among ‘booming cities’, Kanpur had the highest adoption of cashless payments for different mobility services, followed by Patna and Lucknow. Also, Kanpur emerged as the safest city to travel on public transport. Public transport usage among women and the trans/ non-binary is the highest in Ludhiana.
Similarly, Kolkata leads the way in shared mobility adoption, and Pune boasts of the most inclusive mobility ecosystem.
