Urban Transportation Sustainability In India: A State-And City-Level Application Of The UNESCAP Sustainable Urban Transport Index With Cross-National Benchmarking
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66635/dg0mx266Keywords:
Sustainable entrepreneurship, green mobility innovation, sustainable urban transport, electric mobility, inclusive enterprise, Sustainable Urban Transport Index, SDG 11.2, mobility-as-a-service, green business modelsAbstract
Urban transport sustainability in India is neither comprehensively measured nor spatially disaggregated at the subnational level, limiting policymakers' ability to identify reform priorities and track progress on SDG 11.2. This study applies the UNESCAP Sustainable Urban Transport Index framework across all 28 states and 8 union territories of India and benchmarks results against South Asian, Southeast Asian, Latin American, and developed comparator cities. SUTI indicator scores are drawn from published UNESCAP Mobility Assessment Reports for three formally assessed Indian cities and proxy-estimated for all remaining states using official data. Cross-national SUTI scores are sourced from UNESCAP reports or computed by the author from peer-reviewed data. Formally assessed Indian cities score 29.4–36.8 on the 0–100 SUTI scale, showing a persistent planning-practice gap. A four-tier classification identifies only four Tier A performers against nine Tier D states. India outperforms Bangladesh and Nepal but trails Thailand, Brazil, and all high-income benchmarks. Proxy estimation introduces uncertainty, and SUTI does not capture gender-disaggregated mobility or informal transit contributions. Six prioritised interventions are proposed, including SUTI monitoring, Vision Zero road safety, electric bus scaling, TOD enforcement, low-cost BRT/shared electric mobility, and Green Transport Corridors. These improvements directly benefit vulnerable groups, including two-wheeler riders, pedestrians, women, and lower-income households. This is the first study to apply SUTI across all 36 Indian states and UTs with cross-national benchmarking.
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