Experts to meet Maharashtra CM to discuss how transportation can open up

While the city remains under lockdown, a citizens’ group is collating mobility solutions that may be put in place when the city starts opening up. Mumbai Mobility

While the city remains under lockdown, a citizens’ group is collating mobility solutions that may be put in place when the city starts opening up. Mumbai Mobility Forum is crowd-sourcing ideas for how public transport in the city may function in a way that congestion is reduced and distancing norms are maintained. The group plans to present their ideas to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and chief minister Uddhav Thackeray soon.

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Experts associated with Mumbai Mobility Forum have already collated some short, medium and long-term solutions for the city. Pranav Naik from the Mumbai Mobility Forum described the initiative as crowd-sourced and with inputs from experts who can help authorities implement the solutions.

Among the short-term solutions are marking seats in buses, donation drives for cycles and pop-up lanes for bicycles as short-term solutions. Medium-term suggestions include increasing the number of buses, bus-routes, train services and new Metro lines. Long-term solutions look at integration of all modes of transport, congestion charges and a smart bus network.

Naik said, “The goal is to effect long-term behavioural change towards sustainable modes of transport and wean a bulk of the population away from private transport as well as improve the quality of life for Mumbaikars.”

Adhering to physical distancing norms in Mumbai’s suburban trains and buses is a huge challenge since these are overcrowded on any given day. Physical distancing requires people to maintain a distance of at least six feet from one another. The train network ferries 7.5 million passengers daily while buses help 5 million people transit over more than 400 routes.

The city’s bicycle mayor Firoza Suresh, who is also a part of Mumbai Mobility Forum’s initiative, suggested promoting cycling as a means of transport. “Cycling is an inherently physically-distanced mode of transport. In Mumbai too, this is the right time to bring up the behaviour change,” she said.