Study: Travel time to Delhi airport highest among Indian metros
What's the story
The Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi is India's busiest but also the 'worst to access by a vehicle' airport, a study by the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) has revealed.
The study, which surveyed 60 airports, found that the average speed of cars traveling from the city centre to the airport was 20 kmph in Delhi, the lowest among Indian metro cities.
Why?
Traffic pushes travel time till Delhi airport
Reaching Delhi airport by car is more difficult and time consuming due to traffic.
The maximum and minimum time taken to reach the airport from the city's centre was calculated in the study.
In Delhi's case, Chandni Chowk was selected as the city centre. The study found that without traffic, it took 31 minutes to reach the airport. With traffic, it took 76 minutes.
Explained
How car traffic leads to congestion inside airports
The variation of maximum and minimum travel times "was highest among the metro cities and as a result, air travellers do not take chances and leave early for the airport," said transport planning expert Sewa Ram, SPA.
He said this is one of the biggest contributors to congestion within the airport as very often, "passengers reach early."
Poor connectivity
Indian airports need direct road links to decrease travel times
In India, average car speeds drops down to 15 kmph when vehicles come within a radius of 5-10km from an airport.
That's because most airports lack a direct road link which decreases traffic and travel times.
In New York, a city which has a higher car per person ratio than Indian cities, car speeds reach 30 kmph in the 5 km radius.