The metro, it seems, is politics-proof -- even if it comes at a high cost.
Patna is fizzing with excitement. It is getting a new international airport, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate on May 29, and an elevated roadway.
And come August 15, the city will get a metro line -- Bihar's first; it is only the first phase, covering five stations and stretching just over 6 km.
But even this has sparked anticipation, especially as further lines are expected to follow.
In June last year, the state government approved the construction of metro lines in Muzaffarpur, Gaya, Darbhanga and Bhagalpur.
With these additions, Bihar will join Agra (the most recent), Lucknow, Jaipur, and a host of smaller Indian cities that already have functioning metro systems.
And the demand for metros is only rising -- especially when elections loom, as in Bihar, which heads for assembly polls at the end of the year.
The best part: This is infrastructure with no political downside -- just a lot of financial question marks.
A member of the Bihar legislative council, Devesh Kumar (Bharatiya Janata Party), says the metro will help decongest Patna and eventually lead to the development of satellite townships, particularly with the construction of the new airport.
Patna is bursting at the seams: It was the 21st fastest-growing city in the world and the fifth fastest-growing in India between 2006 to 2020 (City Mayors' statistics).
The metro area population in 2025 is estimated to be around 2.7 million, up 2.16 per cent from 2024.
In 2019, the Patna Metro became a key government poll promise during the assembly elections.
At that time, Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United was in alliance with the BJP.
Since then, Kumar has changed partners twice -- first aligning with the Rashtriya Janata Dal in August 2022, then returning to the BJP in January 2024.
And while the political drama has been intense, the metro -- both the one under construction and the others on the horizon -- has never been a point of contention.
In this, Bihar follows a familiar pattern seen across India. Everyone wants a metro -- whether it's Guwahati, Ranchi, Varanasi or Aurangabad. And politically, no one dares oppose it.
Rashmi Sadana, a professor of sociology and anthropology at George Mason University who has done extensive research on urbanisation and authored Metronama, a book about how the Delhi Metro transformed the city, puts it plainly: "Yes, metros are more expensive to ride, but people will pay a little more to have their travel times cut by a third and to travel in a more dignified manner --with better lighting, climate control, even surfaces and clean stations.
"The metro is not only a form of transport, it is an experience. It changes people's understanding of their city and of themselves. People step into this hypermodern infrastructure and become part of it."
But there are caveats.
"The success of Delhi's Metro is partly due to its size -- it's an expansive system covering major swathes of the city. Even then, it's not the most cost-efficient transport, but enough people use it for it to make sense," says Sadana.
"In smaller cities, having a metro is more of a vanity project -- short lines with low ridership. Having short metros in every other city is a kind of financial disaster."
"Even with Delhi's Metro, you can't ignore other forms of transport, especially buses. You still need to connect to those. Investments should be made in the entire transport ecosystem -- not just in expensive metro systems," she argues.
A parliamentary standing committee that presented its report in 2022 echoed this.
It found that most metro projects -- with the exception of Delhi and Mumbai Line 1 -- had significantly lower average daily ridership than what was needed to break even.
These included Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Lucknow and Jaipur.
The report cited the numbers: In 2020-2021, Bengaluru Metro had an average daily ridership of 96,000 against the 1.86 million needed to break even.
Hyderabad Metro had just 65,000 riders, compared with the 1.9 million required.
'The committee noted that poor performance of metro projects indicates several things such as: (i) Lack of first and last mile connectivity, (ii) faulty detailed project reports, and (iii) absence of parking at stations. If the metro is to be made a medium of mass transportation, commuters need to be shifted away from using private vehicles. Therefore, the Committee recommended ensuring ridership estimation (which determines the selection of the type of metro) is realistic and accurate, and taking concrete steps to increase the ridership of all metro projects,' the report said.
While average daily ridership on metros across India is rising, it still falls well short of initial projections.
Metro trains are popular, just not as popular as originally imagined.
Sharad Saxena, who leads research on transport infrastructure and policy at the Asian Development Bank, says relying solely on fare income won't work.
Ticket prices have to be kept low to attract large numbers of riders -- after all, the whole point is that this is "mass" transportation, accessible to everyone.
"So, we're in a bit of a Catch-22," he says.
"Keep fares low and make the system financially unviable. Or, raise fares, lose ridership, and once again face a financial crisis."
Transit companies, he adds, need to "avoid relying on state largesse in perpetuity".
"The best solution is to aggressively explore non-farebox revenues -- from sources other than ticket sales," Saxena says.
That includes advertising, branding rights and property development.
Right now, smaller-city metros are struggling to do just that: Raise revenue from alternative sources.
Even as ridership lags behind projections, Noida Metro has started offering a new service -- birthday parties.
Users can host celebrations in static or moving coaches for a modest fee.
You can decorate the coach yourself, or have metro staff do it for you.
Magic shows and tattoo artists can also be part of the party. The highest package is Rs 10,000 an hour.
Pre-wedding celebrations are also available.
In Lucknow, the metro encourages people to host kitty parties, engagement parties and family reunions -- though food and drink are still off-limits inside the coach.
So, are metros ultimately just about bragging rights -- something every state wants to have and hold
Around 1,000 km of metro lines have already been built across India. The Delhi Metro is now one of the longest in the world.
Twenty-two other cities have metros at various stages of completion, and another 1,000 km is expected to be ready soon.
But once the novelty wears off, 'the significant financial losses incurred by metro rail systems may soon start to outweigh the large environmental and social benefits they offer,' says Nitin Zamre, COO of Infravision Foundation, in a 2023 joint paper with Sandip Chakrabarty, professor at IIM Ahmedabad.
The metro, it seems, is politics-proof -- even if it comes at a high cost.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
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