India, Sept. 1 -- On a muggy July morning in Bengaluru, Anamika Mehra, a 32-year-old marketing executive, sat helplessly in a cab crawling through traffic on her way to Kempegowda International Airport. The dashboard clock showed 8:15am-only 45 minutes before her Delhi flight's gates closed. What should have been a one-hour journey from Indiranagar had already taken over two hours. By the time Mehra reached the terminal, her flight had departed. "I had to pay a fortune for a new ticket," she says. "With no Metro link to the airport and buses slowed by traffic, I spent Rs.1,500 on a cab and still missed my flight."

Mehra's ordeal is far from rare. For most Indian travellers, reaching the airport is a test of patience due to unreliable bus...