City: Mumbai

India’s largest city, and the eighth largest globally, Mumbai houses more than 1.2 crore people according to Census 2011. The city traffic has a notorious image, with frequent traffic jams being reported routinely in the media. However, the Draft Development Plan for Greater Mumbai 2014-2034 conveys a different story of how the city moves. The plan reveals that more than half of the city uses non-motorised modes of transport such as walking and cycling (51%). 42% of the trips are catered to by public modes of transport, including trains, buses, auto rickshaws etc, while the share of cars, two-wheelers and…

It seemed like a bright sunny day. A working woman in her late thirties, left Powai for Matunga by Uber at 7.30 a.m. The route normally takes 45 minutes. But yesterday it took a little longer than usual, around 75 minutes. The rain gods had by then showcased a trailer of what was going to be an adventurous day. Even then, never had I thought that I would return to the cosy comfort of my home only after more than 24 hours! As a Mumbaikar, you can feel the vibe when rain, or for that matter anything, rises above the…

Mumbai, a city that grew along the railway tracks is now a city that has surrendered to the lure of cars. With this habit came the need for more roads and flyovers to make space for the city’s cars and parking space for them. One of the many consequences of this trend has been the surrender of open spaces, footpaths and places where children used to play. But adults in the city haven’t managed to destroy childhood. Not yet. It’s unsafe, but children will play in available space and we can ignore them at our own peril. These photos tell…

Over the last six months, cab drivers from New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru have held protests against the policies of cab aggregators Uber and Ola. Uber’s India President Amit Jain had denounced the cab drivers protest.“It is the work of a small number of individuals who do not represent the majority of driver community,” he had said according to a news report. “There is this mix between organic and incentives. Incentives might have come down, but what a driver partner takes home is organic money plus incentives." In his blog post, Amit Jain explained, “individual driver earnings vary widely…

In October 2016, Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala rejected the Karnataka Urban Development Authorities (Amendment) Bill, 2016, sending it back to the state government for reconsideration. The Bill allowed for reducing the area of parks and open spaces within residential layouts, in towns other than Bengaluru. Currently, 15% of the area of residential layouts have to be retained for parks and playgrounds for the use of general public, and another 10% for civic amenities. The amendment would reduce these to 10% and 5% respectively, which will be applicable for all upcoming layouts. The KUDA Bill had been passed by the legislature…