Kolkata Municipal Corporation has an area of 185 km2 and the Kolkata Metropolitan Area is spread over 1,750 km2 with 15 million people. Pollution levels in Kolkata are high and on the rise. The city will have to take steps to reduce motorisation, so that it can deal with congestion and air toxins. The city is constrained by the road space – it has less than 10 per cent of its land area under roads, against Delhi’s 21 per cent. Therefore, even though the city has fewer cars than Delhi the result is the same – growing congestion and pollution.

Lucknow currently houses a population of almost 2.5 million in an area of around 162.7 sq km. It is the political and administrative capital of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state of India and has always been a major trading city of the north. The growth of Lucknow in recent years has resulted in huge demand for transport. Transport infrastructure, however, has not grown correspondingly and is therefore highly inadequate leading to a dramatic rise in the number of vehicles.

Kanpur is the largest city in the state of Uttar Pradesh. It is spread over an area of 260 sq km with a population of 25.51 lakh. The population is expected to increase to 48 lakhs by 2030 which amounts to adding a whole new Kanpur in 30 years. Even though it had originally grown as an industrial town, manufacturing is shrinking in this city. The city has strength in terms of heavy usage of cycling and walking but due to neglect the city is losing this advantage. Air pollution levels are one of the highest in the country.

Chandigarh is one of the most planned towns of India. This is also one of the richest cities witnessing spurt in personal transport leading to problems of congestion, inadequate parking and air pollution. This city needs to scale up its public transport systems to handle the situation.