Constituting 88% of total trips, public transport in Kolkata, Mumbai has led to lower vehicular pollution: Study

Counterview Desk
A new study of urban vehicular pollution has said that Kolkata and Mumbai “emit least among six megacities due to high usage of public transport and walking”. According to the study “Kolkata ranks sixth among all the 14 cities, but it wins among the six megacities”, and does better than Pune and Ahmedabad, because “the average distance travelled by different modes in Kolkata is lowest among all megacities.”
Carried out by Anumita Roychowdhury and Gaurav Dubey of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi, and supported by the MacArthur Foundation of Chicago, the study says, “Kolkata also has the lowest vehicle stock among the megacities and second highest share of public transport”, adding, “About 60% of all its travel trips are within 3–4 km. This is exactly the model that Japanese cities and Hong Kong have followed.”
Titled “The Urban Commute: And how it contributes to pollution and energy consumption”, the study says, “ Kolkata has the most diverse public transport system for urban commuting – buses (now upgrading to electric buses), metro, trams, suburban rail, para-transit and waterways. If the share of public transport and para-transit are combined, they constitute 88% of the total trips in the city.”
“This shows that only high population, high travel volume and economic growth need not necessarily lead to higher automobile dependency”, comment authors, adding, “Early investment in diverse and connected public transport, and physical restraints can help. Kolkata’s public transport culture, compact city design, high street density, short travel distances and restricted availability of land for roads and parking are among the good practices. It helps reduce overall emissions and guzzling.”
Mumbai, ranking next to Kolkata among megacities, also wins, says the study, “as a result of its public transport spine – primarily its suburban rail system. Public transport and para-transit add up to 89% of all motorized trips in Mumbai.”

“Interestingly”, the study says, “Mumbai has one of the highest trip length for personal vehicles and yet its overall guzzling and emissions are comparatively lower as its suburban rail, which has zero local emissions, meets 52% of the travel demand in the city. Thus, despite having highest trip generation and volume of travel Mumbai could reduce negative impacts by adopting an intelligent public transport strategy.”
Comment the authors, “Mumbai has also proved that economic growth need not necessarily translate into high personal vehicle dependence. Even with highest per capita GDP among the six megacities and highest volume of trip generation, use of personal modes is lowest in Mumbai. This has helped Mumbai to have lower emissions and guzzling compared to most other megacities.”
Pointing towards why Delhi ranks worse of not just six metropolitan cities but also all the 14 cities studied, the study says, this could be because of megaciy's “current abysmal level of walking and public transport”, resulting in “a massive scale of overall emissions, pollution and energy guzzling.” Added to this is “sheer effect of population, volume of travel and highest vehicle stock”, all of which “eclipses the benefits of having CNG and better travel parameters than other cities.”
Thus, Delhi emits 5 times more particulate matter (PM) emission load from urban commuting than Kolkata, and 3 times more than Mumbai, 13 times more than Bhopal, 9 times more than Chandigarh and 8 times more than Vijayawada. And as for CO2, Delhi emits 4 times higher than Kolkata, 2.3 times higher than Mumbai, 1.7 times higher than Hyderabad.
As for other cities, the study warns, “Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Vijayawada, Pune and Jaipur are at an inflection point. Their per trip emissions are in the middle of the spectrum, and depending on what direction their mobility policies take over the next years and decades, their pollution levels may increase or decrease accordingly. They need to take corrective measures now and avoid the fate of the megacities.”
An assessment of 14 cities, based on emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide and toxic pollutants of particulate matter and nitrogen oxides, as well as energy guzzling from urban commuting, the ranking, says the study, is based on aggregated overall emissions and energy use from the urban commute by combining the overall quantum of aggregated toxic emissions of PM and nitrogen oxides (NOx), heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2 ) and energy consumption from urban commuting practices.

Comments

Tony Daniloo said…

Thanks for sharing this post. This post is very helpful for me. I would like to be share with my other friends. Get More Information Visit Here: Tony Danillo

March 02, 2019

Growth without justice: The politics of wealth and the economics of hunger

By Vikas Meshram* In modern history, few periods have displayed such a grotesque and contradictory picture of wealth as the present. On one side, a handful of individuals accumulate in a single year more wealth than the annual income of entire nations. On the other, nearly every fourth person in the world goes to bed hungry or half-fed.

Covishield controversy: How India ignored a warning voice during the pandemic

Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD * It is a matter of pride for us that a person of Indian origin, presently Director of National Institute of Health, USA, is poised to take over one of the most powerful roles in public health. Professor Jay Bhattacharya, an Indian origin physician and a health economist, from Stanford University, USA, will be assuming the appointment of acting head of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA. Bhattacharya would be leading two apex institutions in the field of public health which not only shape American health policies but act as bellwether globally.

When a lake becomes real estate: The mismanagement of Hyderabad’s waterbodies

By Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava* Misunderstood, misinterpreted and misguided governance and management of urban lakes in India —illustrated here through Hyderabad —demands urgent attention from Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), the political establishment, the judiciary, the builder–developer lobby, and most importantly, the citizens of Hyderabad. Fundamental misconceptions about urban lakes have shaped policies and practices that systematically misuse, abuse and ultimately erase them—often in the name of urban development.

'Serious violation of international law': US pressure on Mexico to stop oil shipments to Cuba

By Vijay Prashad In January 2026, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security—a designation that allows the United States government to use sweeping economic restrictions traditionally reserved for national security adversaries. The US blockade against Cuba began in the 1960s, right after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 but has tightened over the years. Without any mandate from the United Nations Security Council—which permits sanctions under strict conditions—the United States has operated an illegal, unilateral blockade that tries to force countries from around the world to stop doing basic commerce with Cuba. The new restrictions focus on oil. The United States government has threatened tariffs and sanctions on any country that sells or transports oil to Cuba.

When grief becomes grace: Kerala's quiet revolution in organ donation

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Kerala is an important model for understanding India's diversity precisely because the religious and cultural plurality it has witnessed over centuries brought together traditions and good practices from across the world. Kerala had India's first communist government, was the first state where a duly elected government was dismissed, and remains the first state to achieve near-total literacy. It is also a land where Christianity and Islam took root before they spread to Europe and other parts of the world. Kerala has deep historic rationalist and secular traditions.

Thali, COVID and academic credibility: All about the 2020 'pseudoscientific' Galgotias paper

By Jag Jivan The first page image of the paper "Corona Virus Killed by Sound Vibrations Produced by Thali or Ghanti: A Potential Hypothesis" published in the Journal of Molecular Pharmaceuticals and Regulatory Affairs , Vol. 2, Issue 2 (2020), has gone viral on social media in the wake of the controversy surrounding a Chinese robot presented by the Galgotias University as its original product at the just-concluded AI summit in Delhi . The resurfacing of the 2020 publication, authored by Dharmendra Kumar , Galgotias University, has reignited debate over academic standards and scientific credibility.

Bangladesh goes to polls as press freedom concerns surface

By Nava Thakuria* As Bangladesh heads for its 13th Parliamentary election and a referendum on the July National Charter simultaneously on Thursday (12 February 2026), interim government chief Professor Muhammad Yunus has urged all participating candidates to rise above personal and party interests and prioritize the greater interests of the Muslim-majority nation, regardless of the poll outcomes.

The Galgotia model: How India is losing the war on knowledge

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Galgotia is the face of 'quality education' as envisioned by those who never considered education a tool for social change or national uplift — and yet this is precisely the model Narendra Modi pursued in Gujarat as Chief Minister. In the mid-eighties, when many of us were growing up, 'Nirma' became one of the most popular advertisements on Doordarshan. Whether the product was any good hardly seemed to matter.

Beyond the conflict: Experts outline roadmap for humane street dog solutions

By A Representative In a direct response to the rising polarization surrounding India’s street dog population, a high-level coalition of parliamentarians, legal experts, and civil society leaders gathered in the capital to propose a unified national framework for humane animal management. The emergency deliberations were sparked by a recent Suo Moto judgment that has significantly deepened the divide between animal welfare advocates and those calling for the removal of community dogs, a tension that has recently escalated into reported violence against both animals and their caretakers in states like Telangana.

Search This Blog