How efficient is the public transportation system in India? What changes are desirable?

India is a huge country and is made up of huge cities, small cities, towns and villages. Transport systems differ between these as also between the different States of India. Mumbai has a good network of suburban trains. There are three lines covering entire Mumbai. The city also runs efficient public buses - there are also some air conditioned buses on some routes. Apart from this, the State of Maharashtra has good bus services between the various places in the State. Though some of these buses are poorly maintained, they are usually punctual and can be relied upon even in the monsoons. There are taxis as well, air conditioned and ordinary. Recently, the Meru cabs have become popular especially for point to point service. The suburbs have autorickshaws which work well for short distances and are reasonable on the pocket too. Kolkata also has a good railway system and metro. But the public transport system there is in the pits. Private vehicles also do not have much road sense and the motto seems to be drive through where ever some space can be seen, so there is utter chaos usually on the roads especially during peak hours. Down South, Chennai has suburban trains, call cabs and autorickshaws. The autos fleece. Not much can be said about the State buses....not really meant for a middle class traveller. Bangalore has autos but passengers are at their mercy, as in Chennai. The auto driver is the king especially if there are few autos around and you are caught in rain or there is a heavy demand for autos. They overcharge depending on the situation and often do not want want to take you where you want to go. With the metro coming up, hopefully travellers worries should somewhat ease