Delhi Metro stands second among 18 systems in world

Asked to list out three top-priority areas, respondents from Delhi and those using 17 other Metro systems listed ‘availability’ as the most important requirement. Only Newcastle and Hong Kong selected ‘reliability’ as their most important area. Delhi Metro commuters rated reliability and crowding as the other two priority areas.

More than 41,000 respondents gave their feedback for this worldwide survey conducted online through the websites and social media links of 18 major Metros of the world in April-May. The Metro systems that participated in this survey, apart from the Delhi Metro, were Hong Kong MTR, London Underground, Metro De Madrid, Paris RATP, Metro De Sandiago, Singapore SMRT, Barcelona TMB, Brussels STIB, Bangkok BMCL, London DLR, Istanbul Ulasim, Kuala Lumpur Rapid PL, Metropolitano De Lisboa, Montreal STM, Newcastle Nexus, Metro Rio and Toronto TTC.

“The survey was conducted according to the European Norm 13816 and the areas covered were — availability, accessibility, ease of use, information prior to travel, information during travel, reliability, customer care, comfort, crowding, and security,” Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) spokesperson Anuj Dayal said.

DMRC is a member of the NOVA group of Metros — a benchmarking community comprising 17 small- and medium-sized Metros around the world. It provides a platform to share experiences, ideas and good practices followed by member Metro systems. It also helps to evaluate the performance of Metro systems by studying key performance indicators. The forum is co-ordinated by the Rail Transport Strategic Centre (RTSC) of Imperial College, London.

This year, DMRC hosted the NOVA phase-17 management meeting in New Delhi that ended on Friday. The meeting was attended by 11 NOVA member Metros including DMRC and two Indian observers’ Metros — Bangalore and Chennai.

DMRC is now being elevated to Community of Metros (CoMET) Group of Metros — a group of 16 of the world’s largest Metro systems. “It is an achievement for the DMRC to be a member of such an elite group. To qualify for CoMET membership, the average ridership should be above 2 million and the city should be the primary city of country,” Dayal said.