Commute

Everyone in Mumbai has an anecdote about their time on the road; a pothole on a speed breaker, complete journeys done in first gear, magically cleared roads at the arrival of a VIP, and so on. Some of these stories of frustration and rage poured out in the Twitter Spaces event, organised by Citizen Matters, “Stuck on the road: The causes and fixes to traffic in Mumbai.” Held on September 13th, Citizen Matters invited citizen groups, experts, researchers and concerned Mumbaikars to share their two cents on how to address congestion in the city. With panellists well versed in diagnosing and…

Mumbai's urban population is estimated at 12 million as per the available data. As the city continues to expand, more buildings crop up, and migration continues to increase. Increasing migration for better work opportunities has caused a spurt in commercial establishments. The city is connected by an extensive rail transportation system, with trains carrying 2.6 times more passengers than their capacity. Deaths and accidents are a daily occurrence in crowded trains as people have no option but to hang on the footboard of the train to reach their workplace. Traffic in Mumbai is unmanageable. Roads, including highways, freeways, smaller lanes…

It was the 75th anniversary of India’s independence. And Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation’s (BMTC) I-day gift to Bangaloreans was free rides on its buses for that one day. August 15th saw 61,47,323 passengers use BMTC buses, as compared to the average of 28 lakh passengers on other days when commuters have to pay for their bus ride. For BMTC it was a double celebration, as announced by its chief traffic manager on August 18th. A record ridership and the corporation’s 25th birthday. Perhaps there was cause for a triple celebration. As on that day, Tata Motors announced that it had won…

It is a truth universally acknowledged that public transit in Chennai is fragmented, poor in service quality, and dying a slow death in the last two decades. Certainly, the patronage numbers of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) and other modes of public transport would support this with modal share dropping over the last few decades, concomitant with an increase in the modal share of private vehicles.  The experiential knowledge of service quality is that service frequency, in particular of the MTC buses is poor and unpredictable; buses and trains are often crowded, and signage and information on fares and routes…

50 km away from the Airport, and 30 km away from Bengaluru’s Central Railway Station, Sarjapura is one area that poses a daunting choice of address! Located in the south-eastern part of Bengaluru, Sarjapura Road is a long stretch that ends all the way near the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border. This mighty 20 km stretch begins at St. John’s Hospital in Koramangala and ends at the actual village of Sarjapura that the road is named after. St. John's hospital in Koramangala, beginning of Sarjapura road. Pic: Vikas Gotla Sarjapura is often wrongly used to describe wards/villages that lie on Sarjapura road.…

15th August 2022 is our 75th Independence Day as well as the 25th Anniversary of BMTC. In light of this, BMTC has announced that all buses, including Vajra (AC) and Vayu Vajra (Airport Service), will be free. Recently, some of us passionate bus lovers came together as “Friends of BMTC”, with the aim to create more awareness about bus services in our city. We noticed that many in our city shy away from using the bus due to a lack of information. Many want to use the bus instead of their car, but find it difficult to figure out which…

Flash strikes have plagued Mumbai’s public buses at least five times in the past three years, since private buses were introduced in the Brihanmumbai Electric and Supply Transport (BEST) fleet in 2019. Two strikes by BEST workers happened in Mumbai Central bus and Magathane bus depots on April 2nd and 26th, 2021. This year, Kurla depot saw no buses turn out on April 22nd, 2022 and for three consecutive days on May 17th-21st, 2022. Similar strikes happened on July 17th-18th at Vikhroli, Wadala, Bandra and Kurla depots. After the strikes, the workers were cajoled and convinced or were paid (overdue) salaries to return to their jobs. …

In Bengaluru, people lose 3-4 hours every day in commute thanks to heavily congested roads. Despite having public transport options including BMTC and Namma Metro, the traffic congestion remains unresolved. The NITI Ayog’s 2018 report estimates that Bengaluru city incurs an avoidable loss of Rs 47,743 crore every year. What is wrong? The real reason is that good mobility relies on a vast number of measures, most of which are missing. A few of these steps were attempted, but they failed due to improper execution. This article explains what these measures are, and suggests how to implement them effectively in…

The public transport system in the city has seen a slew of developments in the past year ranging from the commencement of works for Phase 2 of the Chennai Metro project to free travel for women passengers in the ordinary buses of MTC. With the Metro’s presence in the city now close to a decade, how has the system integrated with the public transport landscape in the city? What are the issues that prevent more riders from taking to the Chennai Metro and is that likely to change with Phase 2? Is the bus system, which ferries more people, being…

Krishnamurthy, an auto driver in Bengaluru for the past 22 years, finds passengers through ride-hailing apps like Ola and Uber only when heading back home at night. To find passengers going in the same direction. At other times, he is able to find customers around the malls where he usually works without using the apps. His main grouse is over the commission that the apps charge, but says customers tend to trust apps more even if their charges are high. For instance, on the app, he shows that the charge for a particular 1-km trip was Rs 90. “If a…