ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846 Lucknow Metro: Urban Transportation Systems Must be Accountable to Local and Subaltern Needs AAKASH BAJPAI Aakash Bajpai (
[email protected]) is a student at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Tuljapur. Vol. 55, Issue No. 1, 04 Jan, 2020 While the city’s North-South Corridor (NSC) of the Lucknow metro has been functional since March 2019 and has recorded a daily ridership of about 40,000–70,000, this is only 16% of the projections made by planners. This shortfall is a result of the government adopting a “one-size-fits-all” approach that fails to take into account existing transportation services (both public and private) and local needs. Sound infrastructure is indispensable to expand the economy, but infrastructure and development have to be synchronised. As India plans to boost its secondary sector, an efficient public transportation system cannot be compromised. The challenge before policymakers and urban planners is to design and implement an inclusive system. I will examine whether, and to what extent, the Lucknow metro has met this challenge. In 2013, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) prepared a report titled the “Updated Final Detailed Project Report for Lucknow Metro Rail Project” (referred to here as the DPR) that advocated for the construction of a metro project in Lucknow. The DMRC argued that Lucknow had inadequate public transport, and this encouraged commuters to purchase motor vehicles (DMRC 2013).[1] Lucknow metro’s North-South Corridor (NSC) has been functional since March 2019 and the East-West Corridor was approved for construction in ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846 June 2018 (Rawat 2018).