Economic Sustainability to Promote Non-motorized Transport Infrastructure—Case of Chennai City, India

Due to the rapid growth of urbanization, the travel needs of people are evolving day by day. Motorized transport leads to many issues including social and environment. As Non-Motorized Transport (NMT) is a sustainable mode of transport, it will be addressing not only environmental issues but also keeping the healthier lifestyle of the people. In a way, this study aims to explore the economic sustainability of NMT infrastructure in the Indian context. The objective of the study is to investigate the barriers to NMT promotion and evaluate the effectiveness of policies and stakeholder involvement in achieving sustainable urban mobility. Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) has been considered as a study area. CMA is the first city in India to adopt the NMT policy and execute the NMT infrastructure on the streets. From the literature, it is understood that the economic benefits of the NMT projects were always been overlooked. To understand and analyze the economic benefits, various stakeholders such as municipal bodies, funding agencies, research institutes, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and private developers have been considered. A sample size of 22 stakeholder interviews data has been collected. Best–worst method (BWM) has been used to analyze the data. BWM reveals that the economic indicators “reduction in travel cost” is the most critical factor with the highest weight of 28.7%, followed by “travel time benefits” at 11.3%. In conclusion, the study emphasizes that the importance of multi-stakeholder participation is vital in addressing the challenges of economic and financial sustainability.