Assessment of Urban Road Transport Sustainability in Indian Metropolitan Cities

The sustainability of urban transportation has emerged as a significant area of research, particularly in urban centres of developing countries due to its notable economic, social, and environmental implications. This paper presents an indicator-based approach to evaluate the sustainability of urban road transit systems in Indian metropolitan cities. A set of 24 indicators is identified and analysed across five metropolitan cities under the sustainability framework, and an index – Sustainable Urban Road Transport Index (SURTI) – is constructed to rank these cities. Further, to allow for comparisons across both space and time, SURTI is constructed for 2010 and 2020 to analyse the decadal variations in relative performance of the metropolitan cities. The study also attempts to illustrate how alternative approaches in Index calculation could influence relative ranking-based outcomes. The study's findings indicate that Mumbai and Kolkata appear to consistently perform better across time and location. Meanwhile, Bangalore has improved substantially during the last decade, whereas Chennai's poor performance has resulted in a rapid decrease in SURTI scores and rankings. The study highlights key transport metrics where cities can potentially improve. The study's findings could prove relevant to policymakers and mobility planners in their attempts to build a sustainable road transport system and address inefficiencies in the key performance areas highlighted in this study