Mumbai is as infamous as famous. It’s famous for Bollywood, efficient public transport and its unbeatable spirit. It’s infamous for its slums and filth, monsoons and traffic. Once known across the country for its disciplined vehicular movement, the city now witnesses innumerable incidents of chaos and system breaking down far more often.
These days, every day is a bad traffic day in every possible direction. The Free Press Journal presents a series on traffic scenarios from different ends. To begin with, we will look at the surge in the number of vehicles in the past few years.
Number of vehicles
As per January 2022 figures, Maharashtra has 4.09 crore vehicles, of which close to 42.13 lakh are in Mumbai alone (in January 2020, the number was 38 lakh). As compared to 2021, the number of two-wheelers went up this year by 4.9%, while light motor cars and jeeps rose by 3.5%. There has been a considerable drop in private buses by 31%, though.
As per a recent economic survey of the state, Mumbai’s roads have seen a 35% rise in vehicle density over the last five years. In fact, the city’s roads have 15 times higher number of vehicles in comparison to the entire state. Going deeper into data, the city has 1,900 vehicles per kilometre, while the rest of Maharashtra has 123 vehicles per kilometre.
In traffic, to kill boredom, have you ever counted the number of two-wheelers whizzing past?
In the recent past, two-wheelers have recorded a 7% surge. In fact, two-wheelers constitute nearly half of the city’s total number of vehicles. Across the state, there are 55 lakh two-wheelers.
Since 2020, there has been a rise of 6.6% in the number of vehicles across the state. Two years ago, the total number in the state was 3.7 crore. There were 1,675 vehicles per km in 2018-19. In 2016-17, the number stood at 1,525/km, while in 2015-16 it was 1,410/km.
Of the total number in the city, 12.46 lakh vehicles were registered with Mumbai central RTO up to March 2022. This included 7.4 lakh two wheelers and 3.88 lakh cars, 26,160 meter taxis and 29,672 tourist cabs.
Diwali and traffic in SoBo
South Mumbai, fondly called SoBo and in a league of its own, probably still considers itself distinct from the rest of the city. Those who have never been to the suburbs probably don’t know what bad roads are. They, however, do know what it’s like to be crowded.
With Diwali around the corner, the traffic situation in SoBo is getting worse, with motorists stuck in jams for anywhere between 30 minutes and one hour. Traffic experts feel not only local vehicles but out-of-city vehicles are also responsible for jams in SoBo.
Transport expert said this on the issue
Transport expert AV Shenoy said, “Vehicles are being parked alongside roads and Metro 3 work is underway. This creates congestion, especially where station work is underway.”
Mr Shenoy, who is also a founder member of the Mumbai Mobility Forum, said , “The city needs to activate the Mumbai Parking Authority. There also needs to be a congestion charge on vehicles entering SoBo during peak hours.” He also suggested widening of roads, which can be undertaken by allowing only cluster development for redevelopment of old buildings.
A Tardeo Traffic Division official said, “Every route is connected to three to four other routes. If even one such route happens to experience minor inconvenience, every road connected experiences a backlog.”
Manual Traffic Management
Recently, this newspaper reported about the new ‘Manual Traffic Management’, which is dynamically opposite to the ‘Automatic Traffic System’. As the name suggests, authorities control traffic movement based on the weight of traffic in the manual system. Though the authorities claim it’s for the best, commuters aren’t convinced at large.
The manual system is currently applicable at the Haji Ali junction and Pedder Road during peak hours and in situations of VVIP movement and extreme backlog. Meanwhile, routes like Mohammed Ali Road, which is considered among the top 10 congested roads in Mumbai, is exactly opposite to the usual SoBo traffic situation.
When this newspaper visited the spot during peak hours on a weekday, it was found that there were barely any traffic cops deployed. Roads were congested due to illegal parking and vendors had encroached the sides of the roads. Even shops have appropriated a portion of the road for business, decreasing the width. Standing out in the traffic mess are Byculla, Mohammad Ali Road, Dongri, Bhindi Bazar (Johar Chowk), to name a few.
An ex-official from the traffic department said that the only thing that can save Mumbai is more road space and many more flyovers.
Commuter Speak
“I travel daily to and from SoBo. Roads are not the problem here, it’s the lack of traffic management. The area needs more traffic cops, advanced traffic management systems and the latest technology.
Onir Ansari, Software Developer from Matunga
Mumbaikars eat traffic jams for breakfast! I say that in jest all the time. There are no peak hours here. You leave work by 3 pm in the afternoon and yet you reach home at least an hour late. We are to be blamed, too. We do not follow traffic rules, we are impatient and reckless!
Rajshree Vaidya, retired professor from Cumballa Hill
I take minimum one hour to cross Pedder Road when it should not take more than 10 minutes. I realised it can be 10 minutes only during the lockdown. I have started sending emails and even watching an episode of some series during traffic jams. I hope someday Mumbai will be traffic-free!
Soniya Gunshekhar, IT professional from Grant Road
