A photo of a Delhi Metro station in New Delhi.
A photo of a Delhi Metro station in New Delhi. Credit: Shreya Kalra Credit: Shreya Kalra

Other than the fact that New Delhi and Toronto are struggling hard to be recognized as global cities, very little comparison can be drawn between the two.

The former is the capital of an economic and political power in the global South, though still very much stuck in the shackles of poverty, corruption, caste and gender discrimination, loose systems of governance and yawning income inequality. The latter is the financial capital of a developed and the second biggest North American country, but still very much a shadow of major cities in the global north such as London, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

No doubt New Delhi has come a long way in its growth and development, but it continues to face persistent pollution, population and poverty problems. In comparison, one could say that Toronto has been successful in providing most people with decent living conditions. Perhaps one can even go as far as to say that Delhi could learn a few lessons from Toronto on recycling, urban planning, and building better infrastructure, civic amenities and more inclusive public spaces.

Having said that, if there is just one lesson Toronto could draw on from New Delhi, it would be establishing one of the most expansive, efficient and carbon-friendly intra-city rail transit systems in the world.

I can safely say that the Delhi Metro is one of post-colonization and independent India’s biggest achievements. India is considered one of the toughest places in the world to do business: According to the World Bank’s “Ease of doing business” ranking, in 2019 India was at 62. Corruption is also a roadblock while doing business in India. According to Transparency International’s 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index, India ranked 85th out of 180 countries with a score of 40 out of 100 (where a score of 100 indicates very clean and a score of 0 indicates highly corrupt). Let’s not forget that India is still a poor country, no matter that it’s the fifth largest economy in the world and/or the fast-growing economy in the world.

Yet, in just under 25 years – despite all the odds stacked against building a new and modern system of public transportation – Delhi has built one of the largest metro systems in the world, both in terms of length and ridership. The Delhi Metro has over 391 kilometers of operation lines and 286 stations, and carries 2.6 million people per day – that’s about 960 million every year. The first line opened up in 2002, delivered ahead of time and under budget. In 2021, it helped people save ​​269 million hours of travel time, and kept half a million vehicles off roads.

In comparison, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) has been in business since 1921, yet Toronto’s subway system consists only of four lines and 75 stations. In the 1970s, for about two to three decades, the TTC didn’t expand at all even though the city did. Today, I can confidently say that I can travel to any corner of Delhi on the metro – a city that covers 1,484 square kilometers, while Toronto covers about 630 square kilometers.

The Delhi metro is also one of the most environmentally friendly and sustainable intra-city rail systems globally – in 2011, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) – the parent company that built and runs the Delhi metro – became the first rail system in the world to get carbon credits from the United Nations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by lowering pollution levels by 630,000 tonnes. It’s also earned a certification for environmentally friendly construction, such as implementing water conservation (rainwater harvesting and wastewater recycling) and waste management methods.

If Delhi – poor, corrupt, lacking financial resources and governance systems compared to Toronto – can build a world class subway system to meet contemporary demands of mass transit, addressing issues of congestion and pollution along the way, then there’s nothing stopping Toronto from achieving the same with more resources and finances at hand. Its failure in doing so is nothing but a lack of political will to acknowledge what the city needs and get it done.

A significant factor that contributed to the swift construction of the metro and preemptively avoid any unnecessary political interference was that both the state (provincial) and central (federal) governments were given equal stake in the DMRC, leaving “all powers for running the corporation and deciding tenders etc. with the managing director of the organisation”, said a DMRC spokesperson in an email. An ethnographic study of the Delhi metro also cites this division of ownership as a factor for success.

Secondly, the DMRC recognized the necessity of staying away from bureaucratic blockages early on, and took on the responsibility of coordinating and executing all tasks that would otherwise require different local and state agencies to get involved – for example, acquiring land, felling trees and removing water pipelines. This is also the same reason why former Toronto Mayor, John Tory, appointed a ‘Transit Czar’ in 2019…I’ll let the experts comment on the success of this appointment.

Expanding sources of revenue is something that the TTC has struggled with since its inception – currently, it gets 70 per cent of its operational budget from fares. The pandemic made it absolutely clear that this is not a reliable model as ridership numbers will never be constant. Ridership levels are at 60 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels.

The DMRC, on the other hand, has diverse revenue streams – this includes fares, leasing and/or selling property that it has developed near metro stations, parking, advertising, consultancy projects (the DMRC is currently helping the Dhaka metro project), and the sale of carbon credits (CAD $3.24 million in 2021), among other sources.

Before the Delhi metro came alive, Delhi was on the precipice of collapse from both increase in population and traffic. Between 1981-2002, the population had doubled, and traffic grew eight times in the absence of any meaningful mass public transportation. I think both the state and central governments realized that the city desperately needed a transit revolution. Mass transit had become a social necessity for Delhi, and lack of funding and resources couldn’t be passed as excuses for inaction any longer. Political will, often the biggest roadblock in getting things done, was foraged and here we are.

Toronto isn’t that desperate yet. However, as the second-fastest growing city in North America and with the city’s population projected to grow to 10 million by 2046, we’re going to start feeling the cold sweats soon. People are starting to lose patience and faith in the TTC as a safe, fast and reliable service provider. I, for one, am done hearing that “the TTC is looking for ways to quickly expand”.

The TTC needs to start hustling: it needs to figure out newer avenues of revenue, hire consultants that will put them on track to achieve deliverables, ignore political baseball and make executive decisions to get Toronto a transit system that people can rely on. An efficient, reliable and affordable subway system is absolutely necessary if Toronto wants to meet its environmental goals and put itself on the map as one of the hottest places in North America to live and work.

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Shreya Kalra

Shreya is a contributing editor at rabble.ca. In her free time, find her cycling or doing yoga. Shreya's personal brand of politics lies in the belief that a smile and putting yourself in other people's...