India's urban mobility is entering a new era shaped by infrastructure upgrades, electric public transport, premium commuting options, and emerging tech—transforming mobility into a smart, sustainable, and commuter-first ecosystem for the next decade.
05 Jul 2025 | 3542 Views | By Rushabh Shah, CityFlo
In 2025, India stands at the cusp of a radical urban mobility transformation that is going beyond simply reaching from Point A to Point B, but instead reshaping how our cities move altogether. The convergence of public infrastructure investment, electric mobility, evolving consumer expectations, and business innovation is redefining the ...
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In 2025, India stands at the cusp of a radical urban mobility transformation that is going beyond simply reaching from Point A to Point B, but instead reshaping how our cities move altogether. The convergence of public infrastructure investment, electric mobility, evolving consumer expectations, and business innovation is redefining the future of movement in Indian cities.
As one of the fastest-growing urbanized nations, India’s metros are expected to house over 600 million people by 2036, putting extraordinary pressure on transportation systems. The imperative now is to build mobility solutions that are smart, sustainable, and people-first.
Building the Foundation: India’s Urban Transport Infrastructure Boom
The government’s aggressive push on infrastructure, through flagship programs like the PM Gati Shakti Master Plan and National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), is already yielding visible results. India’s metro rail network has expanded to over 1,000 km across 11 states and 23 cities, making the country’s metro network the third largest in the world.
Complementing this is the accelerated electrification of public transport. The FAME-II scheme, paired with state-level EV policies, has catalyzed the deployment of thousands of electric buses. As of February 2025, nearly 7,500 electric buses were approved for major cities and UTs under the PM-eBus Sewa initiative.
The shift to modern public transport hinges on a critical but scarce resource—skilled, trained drivers.
Private operators will play a key role in bridging this gap at scale. Through Urban Glide, our public transport operations arm, we’re applying private-sector rigour to government bus fleets—enhancing rider experience while helping authorities run more efficient, reliable systems. This combination of trained drivers, robust tech infrastructure, and deep operational expertise will help shape the mobility landscape in the city.
The Rise of Premium Mobility: Because Urban India Now Demands Better
Mobility in India has traditionally been seen through a binary lens, either cheap and crowded or private and expensive. But this dichotomy no longer serves a growing class of urban professionals who are willing to pay more for safety, comfort, reliability, and sustainability.
We’re witnessing a strong wave of premiumization in urban mobility, driven by rising incomes, the return to physical offices, and a deeper post-pandemic focus on wellbeing. Commuters are prioritizing comfort and peace of mind over just cost or efficiency. And with a willingness to pay more comes heightened expectations. They’re no longer willing to tolerate unclean vehicles, untrained drivers, or service that feels subpar.
This gives players like us the opportunity to plug in this gap, with Cityflo LUXE, by offering a commute experience designed to meet the expectations of corporate professionals and companies, with a quieter, cleaner, and reliable alternative to other last-minute cab-hailing services.
A growing number of corporate clients are now bundling these services into employee benefit programs, recognizing that premium mobility is fast becoming a tool for talent retention and wellness.
Disruption to Discipline: India’s Evolving Mobility Business Models
Over the past decade, India’s mobility landscape has been a playground of experimentation. Bike taxis, carpooling, shuttle apps, all made waves, but many struggled with sustainability or regulatory uncertainty. Today, we're seeing a new wave – one that’s more regulated, reliable, and revenue-conscious.
Take the subscription economy in mobility. Platforms like Namma Yatri have introduced a zero-commission model with direct driver engagement, forcing the industry to rethink margins, platform control, and sustainability. This will also have global repercussions on business models for large cab aggregators and how they approach relationships with operators and drivers.
Meanwhile, bike taxis, once in legal limbo, are being brought under formal regulation in metros, acknowledging their critical role in first- and last-mile connectivity. It’s an interesting moment where the informal sector is getting formalized and monetized at scale.
What the Next Decade Will Demand
Urban India’s mobility future won’t be defined by one solution, but by an ecosystem of solutions that are electric, premium, integrated, and intelligent. It will require public-private cooperation, robust digital infrastructure, and an unwavering focus on the commuter experience.
At the same time, we’re on the brink of seeing entirely new modes of transport emerge; concepts that once felt futuristic but are now in active development. Pod taxis, bullet trains, water taxis, and electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (VTOLs) are all in various stages of trials, pilots, or planning across India. Over the next decade, they are likely to become viable options in the urban and intercity mobility mix.
From the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project to proposed VTOL air taxi corridors in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi, the future of movement in India is being shaped well beyond on-road mobility.
When these systems work together, it’ll be a transformative journey for India in the next decade, with public transit serving high-density corridors, first-mile/last-mile challenges, and time-sensitive use cases.
As we move into the next phase of urban development, mobility won’t just follow city growth, it will soon begin to shape it.
Rushabh Shah is a CBO at CityFlo. Views expressed are the author's personal.