Mumbai: A video posted on Reddit showing unusually empty roads in Mumbai during the Diwali holidays has gone viral, sparking a spirited debate about the huge migrant population and what truly causes the city’s daily traffic chaos.
Shared on the subreddit r/mumbai by Redditor (u/Stunning_Shape9199), the video shows a local resident driving through nearly deserted streets. “I just experienced something I never thought I’d see, empty roads in Mumbai. Completely empty,” the user wrote. He explained that his 17-kilometre commute, which normally takes over an hour, took only 25 minutes.
"Nothing changed except the number of people... Since it’s Diwali, most of the city’s migrant population has gone back to their hometowns, and the effect is crazy. You can literally feel the city breathe again...Mumbai’s problem isn’t design. It’s density,” he added. Watch Video
Many users resonated with the post, describing similar experiences. One wrote, “I managed to reach Juhu in 25 minutes from Kandivali!” Another commented, “The first thing I noticed in the video is the clear blue skies, not the traffic, the rain yesterday healed Mumbai, you love to see it!”
But others challenged the argument that population alone was to blame. One user pointed out, “You’re not stuck in traffic, you are the traffic,” while another added, “Stop using your phone while driving. The roads are not the problem; it’s the lack of public transportation and the shaming of people who use it.”
Netizens react |
Netizens react |
Several comments took aim at the class divide reflected in how people perceive transport in Mumbai. “It’s always about class in India. Don’t have a car? You’re poor. The people driving cars never consider they’re also part of the problem,” one person wrote. Another remarked, “Everybody complains about overpopulation, yet everybody reproduces.”
Others reminded that migrants are essential to Mumbai’s functioning. “If we never had those migrants, the highways wouldn’t even be that wide,” said one comment.
Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, has a huge migrant population, especially from neighbouring states like Gujarat, Karmataka. Apart from them, lakhs of people are from northern states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Telangana, Tamil Nadu from the South.
While the video captured a rare calm moment in the city, the heated discussion it sparked revealed something deeper that Mumbai’s traffic is not just about roads or density, but about class, culture, and how its people choose to move.
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