‘My commute has come down from 7 hours to 2’
“There is no Mumbai if there are no local trains operating,” Jyoti Nair, a resident of Dombivli, Thane said, as she took a seat in the train compartment last week. She has been travelling by local trains on the Central and Western lines for the past 20 years.
The 44-year-old works as an office assistant in a private firm that sells pipe valves, located in Masjid Bunder. Her husband works with the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) as a depot manager and her son goes to school.
When Nair resumed office in August, her commute often took up to seven hours.
“I began to take a bus to work. The journey took two hours in the morning and nearly five hours in the evening because of the evening rush hour. It was simply horrific,” Nair said.
Not only was it expensive — Nair would spend ₹400 every day travelling in the AC bus — it also meant that she would barely get a few hours of sleep she also had to leave her home early. “I would get up by 3am to do the household work before heading to the office. I developed a back pain travelling on the bad roads,” she said.
Then, in October, Nair was robbed close to the bus stop near her house.
“I have never had such a terrifying experience. Somewhere near the bus stop, a few people snatched the chain I was wearing,” Nair recalled.
Now that Nair takes the local, she said, her life is easier. She still leaves early — she takes the train in the earliest time slot — but she’s saving on both time, and money.
“I am not just saving money but also travelling time. My commute time has come down to two hours,” said Nair.
What would help is if more trains begin to ply, Nair said.
Nair is not worried about crowds, she said. “Crowding inside local train compartments is bound to happen. I take precautions, wear a face mask and use hand sanitizer,” she said.