Study highlights how Namma Metro fails Bengaluru's elderly

The study found that older adults’ unfamiliarity with tech-based ticketing, entry/exit, and payment options, confusing signage, the absence of vertical mobility options and a grievance redressal system all evoked an ‘out of place’ feeling, which led to anxious journeys and an exclusionary experience.

Little attention is paid to how the elderly move in the city using Namma Metro. The focus has largely been on the technology, aesthetics and the overall efficiency, without keeping the commuter’s everyday realities in mind, noted a recently-published qualitative study.

The Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru, and the Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands, jointly explored whether Namma Metro is age-inclusive using the reported experiences – barriers, aspirations, and coping mechanisms — of 60 older adults aged 50 to 82 years in Bengaluru. This comes during ongoing discussions about the expansion of the metro network in the city and the recent fare hike pushing the metro out of many people’s reach. 

Funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the study is published as a chapter in the book ‘Inclusive Cities and Global Urban Transformation’ by Springer. 

Cutting across gender, caste, and class categories, it largely found that older adults’ unfamiliarity with tech-based ticketing, entry/exit, and payment options, confusing signage, the absence of vertical mobility options and a grievance redressal system all evoked an ‘out of place’ feeling, which led to anxious journeys and an exclusionary experience.

“The hegemony of speed and technology edges out the relatively slow-paced mobility of older adults,” according to the study.

The lack of a senior citizen concession pass, similar to what other transport systems have for people aged over 60 years, makes it unaffordable for many older adults. Among the many responses recorded in the study, some of the more affluent participants recorded the absence of “low-class” people as a positively convenient aspect, which further reinforces the notion that metro serves a certain socio-economic class. 

This is also true for people who are engaged in informal occupations such as carpentry, mechanics, flower vending, for example, as they cannot take their tools in and also feel like they are “not welcome” inside the metro owing to their clothing, noted Prajwal Nagesh, Senior Research Associate, ISEC, the lead author of the paper. 

"The idea was to look at who we are building the cities for. In India, we generally build cities for able-bodied men who can afford these systems. But we will all age and become disabled in some capacity so we need to make public transport systems more age-friendly and accessible for all,” he told DH.

He hopes this study will nudge the metro to design a policy framework that addresses these challenges. “We are hoping physical infrastructure improves but also the human element itself, with more friendly people helping the elderly navigate the metro. Metro stations also lack ample resting spots. Having more lifts in every station will also help,” he said.

The study concluded that unless intersections such as age, caste, and space are at the centre of mobility discussions, “there is a danger of perpetuating “splintering urbanism” characterised by the creation of exclusive transportation networks such as Namma Metro that primarily cater to the elite”.