Indian cities cry out for UMTA

A unified metropolitan transport authority should be a game-changer for urban mass transport

As far back as 2006, the Central government, through the Ministry of Urban Development, released the National Urban Transport Policy, which recommended the creation of a Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) for all cities with a population above 1 million. According to the 2011 Census, there were 53 such cities.

In August 2017, the Union Cabinet cleared the new Metro Rail Policy, which laid down a framework for cities seeking to introduce and expand the role of their metro rail systems. Whilst many cities have committed to new metro rail projects, there has been little attempt to understand how any metro