(How) do Citizen Surveys work in Urban Transport?

Just last week, the Ministry Housing and Urban Affairs launched a Citizen Perception Survey under Ease of Living Index in 264 cities across the country to capture citizens feedback about different aspects of their cities. These include public transport, education facilities, healthcare services, cost of living, among others. Citizen surveys help in identifying the most critical problems that plague the cities and, therefore, are very important while planning for the development of the city. Over the years, citizen surveys have been instrumental in voicing citizen opinion regarding different sectors of urban development. One such sector is Urban Transportation.

This year in July, Kochi Metro Rail Limited launched an online citizen survey with an aim to modify the routes of bus feeder service based on public opinion in order to improve the first and last mile connectivity of the metro. Previously, the authority conducted a passenger survey in September 2021 to gauge the needs of the commuters. Similarly, the Noida Metro Rail Corporation carried out a survey last year to identify more routes before restarting the city bus service for better last mile connectivity.

Citizen engagement forms an integral element of sustainable urban mobility planning as it brings a sense of ownership to the users and citizen survey is one of the easiest methods to reach out to the citizens. Such recent initiatives are an important step in this direction, however, the challenge lies in effective survey dissemination by the authorities and receiving a sincere response by the citizens.

Have you ever participated in a transportation survey held in your city? In what transport related areas would you like to give your inputs?

To know more about Kochi's citizen survey, read.