NEW DELHI: Amid rising fuel prices and
PM Modi’s appeal to people to reduce dependence on oil by choosing public transport, Delhiites are asking a question: What happens after our metro or bus rides end?
A commuter steps out of a metro station knowing a 10-minute walk will take him home. However, within seconds, the footpath disappears under a row of parked scooters, before an open drain forces him on the edge of the road, with buses and cars whizzing past barely inches away.
Contrast this with most of the cities across the world, where commuters step out of stations and safely walk home on uncluttered footpaths. In Delhi, however, negotiating that ‘last-mile stretch’ often means dodging parked bikes, broken pavements, open drains and speeding traffic.
A debate resurfaced online on Friday after a social media post on Delhi’s poor walking conditions struck a chord with many of its residents. The post said, “As an upper-middle-class resident of Delhi, I am happy to give up the car altogether. I can’t drive and I don’t have anyone to chauffeur me around. I like to walk, and walking seven or eight km a day is okay. Public transport or Uber for the rest. This is what I do whenever I am outside India. With zero hassles. Give me footpaths, which are usable, and safe streets. Why are austerity-peddlers not talking about this? Is it because they have not walked in recent times and have no clue what it is to be a woman in a north Indian city and walk?”
The thread echoed similar frustrations. One user posted, “Footpaths have vanished and nobody seems bothered unless they are forced to walk on the road themselves.” Another wrote that Delhi’s middle class remains deeply dependent on cars, making walkability a low priority in public discussions.
Geetam Tiwari, a transport expert, said these concerns are valid. Pedestrian infrastructure remains the most critical yet ignored part of public transport planning in Delhi. “If we want people to shift from private vehicles to public transport, accessibility becomes the key issue. Studies show that for nearly 80% of public transport users, the access mode is walking. That means pedestrian infrastructure is the basic prerequisite for public transport to work effectively, yet it remains one of the most underrated aspects of urban planning. Foot overbridges alone are not enough. We need to seriously focus on footpaths and walkability,” she said.
The numbers reflect the picture. Six hundred and forty-nine pedestrians died in the capital last year. A 2024 Supreme Court-mandated road safety audit found that 44% of Delhi’s roads lack footpaths altogether. Even where they exist, encroachments, parked vehicles and commercial spillovers often leave little space to walk.
A short walk from Nehru Place Chowk to Lady Shri Ram College for Women along Lala Lajpat Rai Marg captures the problem. Near shop entrances, pedestrians move in a single file between parked motorcycles and fast-moving traffic. Outside busy market stretches, people step off broken pavements and instinctively raise an arm towards oncoming vehicles, hoping drivers slow down. The road is lined with cafés, hospitals, schools and metro commuters, yet walking here is an ordeal.
Similar scenes unfolded when TOI visited Laxmi Nagar. Along Kalka Devi Marg and on stretches of Vikas Marg, pedestrians repeatedly had to climb on and off pavements to dodge encroachments, dangling wires and broken tiles.
While Delhi Traffic Police personnel said drives are regularly conducted to remove encroachments from footpaths and cycle tracks, MCD and PWD officials did not comment on the issue.
Rohit Baluja, director of Institute of Road Traffic Education, said Delhi’s transport debate often focuses on symptoms instead of root causes. “The entire discussion revolves around traffic and congestion, but very little attention is paid to pedestrian infrastructure, which should be the starting point of any transport-planning exercise. In cities like London, people comfortably walk three to four miles daily because the infrastructure is safe and uninterrupted. Even Indians walk extensively abroad because the environment allows it. In Delhi, it is simply not possible in many areas. Unless walking becomes safe and convenient, asking people to leave behind private vehicles means little,” he said.
“Carpooling and remote working are useful solutions, but what about people who have to physically commute every day? That is where the importance of walking needs to be recognised,” he added.
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