Commute

Last week, the Bombay High Court asked the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to probe into irregularities in toll collection on the Mumbai-Pune expressway. Activists had filed a Public Interest Litigation to stop toll collection fee on the Expressway, claiming the capital costs was already recovered from it in the past 16 years since 2004.   This pushed us to ask, what do Mumbai residents pay toll for?  Currently, Mumbaikars have to pay a toll at five points. Dahisar on the Western Express Highway, Vashi on the Sion-Panvel Highway, Airoli bridge and two points at Mulund - Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg…

My friend Arun, spends 20-30 minutes everyday, waiting in his car at the toll plaza to exit Mumbai so that he can reach his office in Thane. Like him, there are lakhs of vehicles that exit and enter the island city of Mumbai daily. I used to as well, but not since I switched jobs. Blessed with a seafront on most of its periphery, there are only 5 entry/ exit points for vehicular traffic in Mumbai: Dahisar (Western Express Highway)Vashi (Sion-Panvel Highway)Mulund East (Eastern Express Highway)Airoli (Mulund-Airoli Bridge)Mulund West (LBS Marg). Data compiled by Mumbai Vikas Samiti in Dec 2018…

Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman announced a new vehicle scrapping policy in the 2021 budget, which  is expected to impact the automobile sector in a big way and could have a negative impact on small and medium entrepreneurs associated with it.  While the government is pushing it as a move to revitalize the automobile manufacturing sector, the small-scale entrepreneurs and/or vehicle owners say that it could lead to unemployment of unskilled labour working in the sector. The small entrepreneurs are also concerned with the timing of the new policy, given the economic slowdown triggered by Covid19-induced lockdowns.  Another common concern…

When it comes to bus services in the city, there seems to be a wide and clear gap between what residents want and what they get. A recent newspaper report highlighted the intensifying public call for resumption of small buses on route S3 along the Chrompet-Madambakkam route, that were stopped three years ago. When members of a residents' association in Chitlapakkam filed a petition with the CM Cell, they received a reply saying services had been stopped due to poor patronage. Yet, there are many commuters who say that they were benefitted by these buses that used to run at…

“Shimla’s carrying capacity vis-à-vis vehicles is already exhausted and needs immediate solutions” admits Mohit Chawla, Superintendent of Police (SP) Shimla, as the city prepares to welcome tourists in the coming months. Having suffered huge losses last year, Shimla’s tourism-related businesses are hoping for a good season in 2021, as unlock restrictions are eased more and more. Unfortunately, an influx of tourist vehicles from outside the state would only worsen an already chaotic hill station’s traffic woes. The town presently does not have the capacity to cope even with the existing 1.2 lakh plus registered vehicles and more than 25,000 other…

For the first time, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has gathered a team of experts and citizens to frame and implement a parking policy for the city of Mumbai. The committee of 15 members was set up in 2019, but was defunct during the lockdown but has been reconstituted and met for the first time on January 18, 2021. This committee will envisage the setting up a new body - the Mumbai Parking Authority. All civic policies are usually conceived and drafted by civic officials or elected representatives. Also read: Mumbai, this is how you can tackle traffic jams Mumbai Parking Authority…

Road crashes kill around 1,50,000 people every year in India and could thus be termed the 7th most important non-communicable disease. The Government of India, in 2019, passed the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act which increased penalties for several violations such as not wearing helmets and seatbelts.  As part of the National Road Safety Month 2021, Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG) surveyed 10 locations in Chennai city to gauge the level of compliance with helmet and seatbelt rules. By law, only two persons are allowed on two-wheelers and both are required to wear a helmet, properly fastened. In cars,…

In a bid to promote non-motorised transport (NMT) in Chennai, team Stride of the India Smart Cities Fellowship, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and BYCS’ Bicycle Mayor of Chennai have initiated a crowdsourcing exercise to map the cycling amenities in Chennai.  Digital tool for promoting NMT The team intends to develop a digital tool for monitoring non-motorised transport (NMT) scenarios and engaging citizens to promote walking and cycling in Chennai. Kickstarting the project, Chennai has been chosen as the pilot city. Upon completing the pilot, the initiative will be scaled up across different Indian cities. The project…

The swanky new Sir M Visveswaraya railway terminal at Baiyappanahalli is due to be opened towards the end of this month. The butterfly-shaped terminal, built at around Rs 350 crore, is bound to be a transportation hub on the eastern end of the city. When operational, this terminal could take the load off the two other major railway terminals in the city: the Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Railway station in Majestic and Yeshwanthpur railway station. While the terminal itself promises to be a state-of-the-art facility, its usability has many hurdles. Access and connectivity to this terminal is the main issue. For…

The Western Express Highway in Kandivali East, North Mumbai is expectedly, one of the busiest arterial roads of the city, but those living on the side of it often spend an hour from the highway to reach their homes, about a kilometre away. Residents of Hanuman Nagar, Lokhandwala Township, Damu Nagar and Kranti Nagar are the worst affected. At the place where the highway crosses Akurli Road (the road that begins at the Kandivali East station and extends right upto the hills), we have a flyover, a traffic-cum-pedestrian subway and service roads crisscrossing, with vehicles moving in different directions. There…