Lost in Transport

Mumbai’s grand transport infrastructure is undermined by potholes, Poor discipline and a last-mile gaps that keeps it crawling

Mumbai: It is morning time, and Pawan Khandelwal is all set to leave for

work. A creative lead at an ad agency in Malad, Mumbai, Khandelwal should

take 12 to 15 minutes to reach the office, but that rarely happens because of

the traffic, poor road quality and lack of civic sense among co-drivers on the

road. He mostly ends up reaching the office in 30 to 40 minutes.

Khandelwal firmly believes that road construction is not a major issue for

traffic. “The road under construction is not a big issue because they usually

don’t take very long to repair the roads. But even after their work is done, it

is not done perfectly. At times when they are digging up the road for other

purposes, they often leave a bump or a pothole,” he said.

He gives an example, “One can see it on the western express highway. There are so many bumps. We call it a highway, but we can’t even drive at 15 km/h because it is not fixed properly.” He also blames people for not following traffic rules, which adds to the problem.

Traffic Woes

Although there are coastal roads and metros available, the traffic still seems to

be a problem for many residents. A media professional and a daily commuter, Charlene Flanagan has been travelling in Mumbai for many years now. There

is not much difference in her experience of the traffic congestion. From her experience, she believes the coastal roads and metros have not completely

accomplished the mission of curbing traffic congestion. She says, “As a resident

of Mumbai and as a person with a valid driver’s licence, I would say the

traf f ic hasn’t really changed. It is still as congested, and whether the

coastal roads have helped depends on the time of the day you leave and whether

you are going against the traffic or along with the traffic.”

The pedestrians also face problems. Saloni Mehta, a theatre artiste, says, “I prefer walking to my destinations. For example, I live in Versova, and if I want to see a play in the Prithvi Theatre, I will take a half-hour walk. However, this one time, I could not

reach the venue, not just because of the traffic but also because there were no pavements left to walk on. The roads are dug up, and every road is just half a road.”

Mumbai’s average speed covered is 5.2 km per 15 minutes. During the peak traffic hours in the morning, when most people travel to their workplace, the average speed is 18.5 km/h.

It is important to understand the issue and address it with a solution. Sudhir Badami, an author of the book ‘Matter of Equitability - Making Commuting in Mumbai Enviable’, explains why people still prefer to use cars over metros, “The metro line 3

has definitely taken away some car users. But it has not taken away sufficient

numbers of car users to make a difference in the state of road congestion. The reason behind this is essentially the last-mile connectivity in areas where the Aqua Line or

Line 7 operates, especially in suburban areas. In the city area, it is supported by good BEST services on the one hand, and taxis being available near the metro stations on the other hand. But most car users still opt for using their cars, as public transport currently does provide assured exclusivity, comfort and good frequency, not forgetting last mile connectivity.

The Coastal Road sees very few cars compared to the number of cars on Mumbai’s Roads. Badami, as a transportation analyst, says, “Mumbai has approximately 16 Lakhs motor cars, out of which only about 55,000 seem to be using coastal roads. It is

such a minuscule proportion for whom so much has been spent. This is largely

because in the city, people don’t go from one end of the city to the other end. They normally start from in between and go somewhere in between. If there is not much time saving for the shorter stretches, then people are not likely to take it, and there will be continued congestion on city roads.”

“In general, the necessity of the last-mile connectivity is an important part, but the greater part will be how to get car users onto the public transport,” says Badami. Public transport must provide near exclusivity, comfort and safety to a car-using commuter for migration to take place. This is where the importance of last-mile connectivity is felt.

Air Pollution

The slow-moving traffic also adds to the air pollution in the city several times more than when they are moving at optimum speeds, he says.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Mumbai, Anil Kumbhare, denies that there is much traffic congestion in Mumbai as compared to five years back. He credits the coastal roads for curbing the traffic. He says, “Earlier, there used to be bumper-to bumper traffic near Haji Ali. That has come down drastically. As coastal roads shape, the traffic will go down.”

He also adds that there is traffic congestion in the morning hours as people are travelling for work. But there is no traffic jam. Although coastal roads have helped, there are still pockets of the city that face traffic congestion every day. This can be solved with careful planning and execution.