Parliamentary panel flags low ridership, need for unified Metro law

Source: The post is based on the article “Parliamentary panel flags low ridership, need for unified Metro law” published in The Hindu on 5th September 2022.

What is the News?

Parliamentary Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs has submitted a report titled “implementation of Metro rail projects” to the Lok Sabha.

What are the key highlights from the report?

Low ridership: Most metro projects (except Delhi and Mumbai line 1) have seen lower actual average daily ridership than what is required to breakeven. These metro projects include Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Lucknow, and Jaipur.  

– The poor performance of metro projects indicates several things such as: (i) lack of first and last mile connectivity, (ii) faulty detailed project reports, and (iii) absence of parking at stations. 

– Therefore, the Committee recommended: (i) ensuring ridership estimation (which determines the selection of the type of metro) is realistic and accurate, and (ii) taking concrete steps to increase the ridership of all metro projects.

Law governing metro projects: The Committee observed that as more cities are taking up metro projects, there is a need to have a comprehensive law for metro projects. Currently, metro projects are governed by three central Acts.  

– Note: The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs had stated that it is drafting a Bill to replace the three existing Acts.

Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority(UMTA): State governments are required to constitute UMTAs for managing urban transport. The Committee observed that several states such as Karnataka, Gujarat, and Rajasthan have not constituted UMTAs. It recommended the Ministry to encourage the setting up of UMTAs in states.

Payment of fare via single card: The National Common Mobility Card (NCMC), launched in March 2019, allows payment across different modes of public transport throughout India.  Payment through a single card attracts customers towards public transport and increases ridership.  

– The Committee noted that NCMC-compliant systems have not been installed in Kolkata, Jaipur, Lucknow, Kanpur, Chennai, and Gujarat. It recommended the Ministry to take suitable steps to operationalise NCMC

Sourcing of power from renewables: Metro networks such as Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, and Lucknow are adopting energy conservation measures. For instance, Kochi and Pune metro have planned to meet 60% of their energy requirements from solar power.  

– The Committee recommended the Ministry to encourage mandatory sourcing of power from renewables, especially solar, by metro networks.