Gurugram ranks eighth among 12 rising cities in ease of moving index

The city was ranked eighth among 12 “rising cities” in the country in the “ease of moving index” survey, which rated cities on several parameters related to urban infrastructure and mobility.Prepared by OMI Foundation, a policy research and social innovation think tank, the Ease of Moving Index-India Report 2022 was launched in Delhi on Tuesday by Kunal Kumar, joint secretary and mission director of Smart Cities Mission, and Shombi Sharp, United Nations resident coordinator in India .

According to the data made public, 36% residents have bicycles, 81% own two-wheelers, 5% own three-wheelers, and 34% own four-wheelers.
The report said 42% travel happens for work, 15% for education, 20% for shopping and 19% for recreation.

The ease of moving index report is based on a survey incorporating responses from 50,488 respondents and 220 focus group discussion participants besides data from government and other sources, the foundation said.The report said 50% of residents spend less than 1,000 a month on commuting while 3% spend between 5,000 and 10,000 on their commute a month. About 83% people in the city use public transport, the report said, of whom 39.17% users are women.

The report has categorised cities into promising cities, rising cities, booming cities and mega cities. Gurugram has been placed in the category of rising cities — cities with a projected population between 1 million to 2 million –alongside Coimbatore, Guwahati, Ludhiana, Nashik, Varanasi, Raipur-Nava Raipur, Chandigarh, Ranchi, Vijayawada, Mysuru and Jabalpur.

All cities were rated on nine parameters which included impetus for active and shared mobility, seamless mobility, towards Vision Zero, mobility for all, affordable mobility,efficient and reliable mobility, clean mobility, future mobility and investment in city.The report said Gurugram ranked eighth on the index while Coimbatore was ranked the best and Jabalpur the worst.

Gurugram has high impetus for active and shared mobility among other things, said Roshan Toshniwal, head, centre for future mobility, OMI, and one of the authors of the report.,
He further said that while the city has good options when it comes to shared public transport, there is scope for further improving public transport and metro connectivity, which will allow easier and safer movement of people.

“Gurugram is the only city in the cluster that has an operational Metro well connected with Delhi-NCR and has the highest adoption of active and shared mobility,” the report said.
The city also scores high on the personal mobility front as a large population has two-wheelers and cars. Toshniwal said the focus should be on creating safe spaces for the most vulnerable road users such as cyclists and pedestrians.

“There is need to strengthen the cycling space, create footpaths and ensure that people are able to use the infrastructure with ease,” he said.The city also scores low on public mobility and Toshniwal said there is need to expand bus system, metro and similar modes of transport in Gurugram. Being close to Delhi, the city has the highest length of road transit and mass rail transit but it needs to harness this infrastructure, he said.

Toshniwal said Gurugram was a “rising city” with great potential for economic growth and the need was to ensure that it is easier and safer for people to commute both within and outside the city. “Gurugram has a comprehensive mobility plan and also a unified transport body and these augur well for mobility. The need is to create infrastructure and transport systems that cater to every category of user,” he said.