Urban transport problem has assumed crisis proportion in all the metropolitan cities in India, with difference in degree, due to imbalance between demand for the supply of transport services. Growth of population and increase in the level of activities would generate demand for mobility of goods and passengers which could hardly be met by available modes of transport and infrastructure in cities, particularly in the context of globalisation. Crisis gets manifested in high social costs in the form of congestion, pollution and accident. To avoid this crisis adequate provision should be made for infrastructure and eco-friendly modes in a planned manner integrating transport planning with overall urban and regional planning. For that resources should be mobilized as much as possible from internal sources for investment in transport infrastructure sufficiently before the occurrence of crisis by adopting suitable pricing and fiscal policy so as to ensure maximum social benefit. In the light of this perception, the transport problem of the metropolitan cities in India has been analysed, in this book, with remedial measures. In doing that examples have been drawn upon from the experiences of the city of Calcutta, which is supposed to be the most problem infested city in India. Therefore, the remedies suggested would, by and large, apply to the other cities. In addition to the investigative study and evaluation of urban transport policy in India since independence has also been made at the end of this book followed by the summary of conclusions arrived at in all the foregoing chapters. The book consists of fourteen chapters with a foreword by Dr. M.Q. Dalvi, a world famour transport economist who served several Third World countries including India as an UNDP adviser on transport policy. His exhaustive commentary on every aspect covered in this book is the additional attraction to the reader. The chapters of this book deals with urban transport problem in Indian cities, air pollution, traffic noise, road safety, transport problem in Calcutta, banishing hand-pull rickshaw, development of urban rail system, infrastructure, transport infrastructure, an alternative to upward fare revision, should the society bear the deficit and the urban transport policy of India. These chapters are the edited versions of the papers already published in Indian and foreign journals.
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