Every year the newspapers and magazines come out with the analysis of which city is the best place to live. Our dear Mumbai ranks 142 out of 205 cities. Last year it was holding 148th rank. A marginal progress!
The question that popped up in my mind is what do the best cities have in common that mumbai does not have? What is the one factor that makes a city worth living. After considerable research, the answer was
Urban Public Transport. And mumbai is currently facing a real challenge on that front. Especially considering so many people from all over mumbai shifting their base from their shanties in rural areas to customised slums near the pipelines and railway lines of mumbai!
While developing any city, great care and diligence is needed to decide how much portion of the navigable space should be road and how much should be footpath for pedestrians. And in city like mumbai even an inch of space matters a lot. Allocating more space to roads means more preference is given to motorists rather than pedestrians. If it were any city in America where population is less, most people have cars; then this approach, of more road space than footpath, would have been justified. But in Amchi Mumbai. There is plentitude of motorists and pedestrians. This will eventually lead to traffic jams not only for motorists but also for human beings. The railway bridges of major station of the central and western line are jammed by the human traffic during peak hours. The day won't be too long when there will be traffic lights for humans to move and stop.
The only solution for this would be efficient Public Transport. In the span of one hour on a busy road, all the cars and transport more than 4500 passengers. (assuming all cars are running on car-pool) But the same road in the same time can transport more than 40,000 people. Our mumbai locomotive trains transport more than 90,00,000 passengers on a daily basis, no exaggeration!! But if you look at the Mumbai transport system, least importance is given to Public transport. while private transport is given a great scope! Not that I am against private cars or motorists. In fact I too have a motor vehicle which I drive everyday.
What I mean here is a city like mumbai should improvise on the public transport more than what is now. Expansion of roads will mean more room for motorists to ply on but a dedicated lane for bus will mean faster bus movement. Certain cities have special areas where motor vehicles are not allowed. Only pedestrians and cyclists are allowed. This model can bring a lot of eco-friendly-ness in the city. But all this is very much hypothetical to begin with. What we need now is something more practical to begin with. The MMRDA has mooted the sky-bird plan. That is the mono rail that will ply along side the roadways of the city. But how much this will help is what I doubt!
This is one city where the people will never stop pouring in. The problem of public transport will be always a unsolved issue. But the development of a city mainly depends on it public transport system.
