If local trains stop, so does Mumbai
Millions live and work in this country’s metropolises, hamstrung by their slowly decaying public transport networks. Hindustan Times takes stock of how people commute in four of the country’s mega cities. Today, a Mumbaikar narrates his travel woes and pa
MUMBAI: If there’s one survival trick that every newcomer in Mumbai has to equip him/herself with, it’s the art of travelling on its suburban railway network. Spread across the country’s financial capital, the local trains are the lifeline of Mumbai and carry more than seven million commuters every day — by far the most popular mode of transport. When the locals stop, so does the city.
But often, Mumbaikars have to straddle multiple forms of transport in order to get to their workplaces and homes in time. Neeraj Singh Rathore, for example, takes a bus from his home in south-western Mumbai’s Kalina, followed by a local train, and then an autorickshaw to reach his office in northern Mumbai’s Kandivali.
The 27-year-old is a business development manager with a private company and has lived alone in the city for seven years. He says he chose public transport over his car to avoid the “maddening traffic jams” but admits it isn’t easy.
“I mostly travel to the western and central area of the city for work; The current ongoing metro construction in the city (largely in the western suburbs) has made driving all the more difficult. The traffic congestion especially during the peak office hours is pretty bad,’’ says Rathore.
On a given weekday, Rathore leaves his house at 9.30 am and boards a Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) bus, route number 311, to Santacruz station. He somtimes has to wait about 20 minutes for the bus but he says the other option, packed autorickshaws, often overcharge. The bus service still ranks second among Mumbai’s transport options but the service is battling deteriorating infrastructure and poor passenger amenities.
“The frequency of the buses is not adequate. The buses should have an Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) like the local trains,’’ he told this reporter en-route his workplace.
After a 20-minute bus ride, he boards the local train to Kandivali station. These arrive on the dot, but the real struggle is to get even a toehold at rush hours.
“The local trains are very crowded and it is difficult to get into the compartments. I prefer to board a Borivali train (the service terminates at Borivali station, one stop after Kandivali) as commuters are comparatively less,” he shares.
Rathore says it took him some time to understand and pick up the strategies to negotiate the crowd on a local train. He is thankful for the fast commute but agrees that the sheer number of passengers is daunting for newcomers to the city – roughly 20 people cram per one square metre of the compartment during peak hours and around 10 lose their lives on the tracks because of overcrowding, say railway statistics.
The western railway operates 1,355 services every day and the central railway operates 1,706 daily, including the harbour and trans-harbour routes. The last leg of Rathore’s commute is often the most trying. After alighting from Kandivali station, he is forced to negotiate with testy autorickshaw drivers, who often refuse to ply short distances and overcharge.
“It is difficult to get an autorickshaw outside Kandivali station. My office is 1.5 km from the station and the meter goes up to ₹30, the rickshaw drivers refuse to ply such a small distance. The drivers also refuse due to the traffic near Thakur Complex. I have to wait for 10-15 minutes for an autorickshaw,” says Rathore.
The entire trip takes a little more than an hour.
On his way back home in the evening, the routine repeats. The evening rush hour is difficult to traverse — both on the train and on the road. Rathore says he leaves his workplace between 6pm and 7pm and takes an autorickshaw to Borivali.
“The local trains are overcrowded during the evening peak hours, due to which I board a local train from Borivali station. I do not get to sit but stand inside the local train compartment. The BEST bus from Santacruz station is also generally delayed.”
In recent years, the government has moved to add new forms of transport, such as the monorail and the metro, but they remain contained in pockets. Other forms, such as appbased cab services, can be afforded only by a few.
›
The local trains are overcrowded during the evening peak hours, due to which I board a local train from Borivali station. I do not get to sit but stand inside the local train compartment...
NEERAJ SINGH RATHORE, Daily Mumbai commuter