India's metro system derailed by lack of last-mile connectivity

Ms Rajani S.S. uses the Bengaluru metro rail to get to her workplace because it "saves time and saves me from the pollution on the roads", she told The Straits Times.

- Rohini Mohan

But getting to the metro station 1.5km away is a hassle for the 65-year-old, who works for a state child welfare agency.

She can take her scooter, but the parking zone is muddy and messy at most metro stations.

Buses are out of the question, said Ms Rajani, as their frequency is unpredictable; they are also often stuck in Bengaluru's congested roads. Tuk-tuks or auto-rickshaws, when available, charge exorbitant fares, but she usually takes them to save time.

"The metro ride itself is clean and fast, but getting to and from the station is still a pain," she said.

Her pain point is at the crux of what ails India's growing metro rail system today.

In February, India reached a milestone of laying 1,000km of metro rail across 23 cities. It has the third-longest metro network in the world, after China (over 11,000km) and the US (over 1,300km), according to railway tracker Metro Report International.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government said it wants to overtake the US soon, by commissioning 6km of new tracks every month.

But metro ridership is much lower than expected.

Ridership in national capital Delhi, which has the country's largest metro network, is just 47 per cent of its projected figure. Mumbai's stands at 30 per cent, and Bengaluru's, barely 6 per cent. Tier-2 cities such as Lucknow, Kanpur and Jaipur, where the metro systems are smaller, have hit just 2 per cent to 3 per cent of their ridership targets.

This is primarily due to the lack of comprehensive first- and last-mile connectivity via buses, cycle lanes and footpaths, and metro fares that far exceed what the majority of Indians can afford, experts said.

The ideal public transport system for Indian cities would combine buses and metro trains.

But India's razor-sharp focus on metro rails alone, even in cities where they are superfluous, has been its undoing.