Article: When the solution is the problem! How to make trouble for transport project people in Mumbai

New Delhi: Mumbai was once an example for other cities of the country. The city had a finest public network of local trains and buses. This network was about to compete with any international city. Roads were also so good that the distance was measured in time, not in kilometers. Wherever there is anywhere in the city, the time to reach from one place to another was almost certain. By the 2010s, a 10 -minute delay was rare. However, there was excessive congestion in the traffic system. But used to work well. Very good. But until our officials decided to improve it. A lot of flyovers were built in Mumbai in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Many flyovers were built on the Western Express highway. Where there was a jam, there was a trend to build a flyover. Flyovers were also built in areas like BKC, Airport, Kalina. JJ, Lalbagh, Dadar TT, Sion… Many flyovers were built on the same road. Every new flyover was designed to reduce the jam from the old flyover. But did this really happen? There are dozens of flyovers on the Western Express Highway. Yet the problem of traffic jam remains the same.

Flyovers built to reduce traffic jams in Mumbai are now causing the jam itself. Due to this, both time and money of people are being wasted. People have to get stuck in the jam for 30 minutes on the flyover. The formation of a flyover causes jams to another place. Then a second flyover is made to fix that jam. In this way, crores of rupees are being spent on flyover of the public, but people are not able to reach home soon. The government is spending crores of rupees on these flyover. Therefore, it is important to find a permanent solution to the traffic problem.

Fierce traffic in Mumbai

The basic principle of traffic management is that making more roads and more lanes does not reduce traffic, but increases. Mumbai is a living example of this wrong planning, where millions of crores of rupees were spent, but no lesson was learned. Those who say, ‘Think if these flyovers were not there, what would be the traffic’ can be advised to go to New York or London. These are cities where there is terrible traffic, but not flyovers. Creating a flyover without thinking causes the situation to worsen. Planners of Mumbai know this, yet do not pay attention to it.

Massive congestion in local trains

Local trains in Mumbai are another major problem. To reduce this crowd, the government began building the metro. In the 2010s, Metro 1 was built from Ghatkopar to Andheri, which was extremely successful. Millions of passengers use it daily. But, it runs with only 4 coaches, which are so crowded that local trains also become embarrassed. After this success, the government decided to create a full new metro network. But, it seems that they forgot about their first metro line, which is in dire need of new coaches, but he/she is not getting anything.

In the 2020s, the Metro Line 2A and 7 were constructed to reduce traffic on Link Road and Western Express Highway, these lines were made parallel to the existing railway lines, so that the congestion in trains was reduced. However, these new metro lines remain empty, because their connectivity is very bad and the crowd has increased on the roads below.

Dig the city to build a metro-3 line

Subsequently, the government dug up the entire city to build the metro 3 line and destroyed its natural environment. The line goes from Cuff Parade (South Mumbai) to BKC and Andheri. During this time, they forgot that Sobo is no longer a business center. And most people who work in BKC and Andheri do not live in Sobo. This route has not yet started completely, so Mumbai has not yet come to know how helpful this line will be. But, if any guess is made from partially open route, it will be very difficult to use this line.

Metro lines do not connect to public transport network

The airport station, climbing 150 stairs from the airport and walking 10 minutes. And BKC station is 15-25 minutes walk from any place in BKC. Our government is building a metro line one after the other, and every line has its own problems, some seem bigger than the solution. These metro lines do not connect to the existing public transport network. These lines are already being built by our government at a cost of more than one lakh crore rupees. These are being made up of foreign debt, which will have to be repaid with interest at future foreign exchange rates.

Famous best bus network is bad

It is okay to not connect with the existing train network of metro lines. Mumbai can always create a new public travel network. But where is public transport at these new metro stations? No public buses are seen. The famous Best bus network of Mumbai has been ruined. The number of buses has come down from about 5000 to less than 1000. Because our government says that the best is running in losses and they do not have money to run it. The same government also runs a loss -running monorail service, and says that they do not have the money to buy additional compartments for a packed metro 1 line.

In every sense, Mumbai is a jam with a jam

This is the story of Mumbai. Where every attempt to solve the problem creates new problems. A city where there is a traffic jam on the flyover. A city where there is a 4 -compartment metro 1 line jam and the metro 3 line with 8 coaches is empty. A city where local trains are packed. A city that has spent so much money to fix these jams that now it does not have money to buy buses. Mumbai is a city with a jam in every sense.

(The author is part of a citizens group that tracks the work of BMC Pro.)