Travel Hacks for Mumbai

This particular post is overdue by the blogger. The blogger will not delve into why she has not put this up in long time; the answer is simple-laziness. A lot has changed in Mumbai in past 12 years. That is exactly the amount of time I have been travelling in city for professional and social reasons and it excludes my time as a student. It is a very very long time and in this period I’ve travelled across length and breadth of the city – be it SoBo ,Vashi, or Virar. Travelling in Mumbai is an art and the one who does not want to burn a hole in their pockets and travel with comfort must learn the tricks and adapt. 

If you still think – local trains hai na then my dear friend you are highly mistaken. The trains are now crowded on both ways (up and down).  Aah! The autos… don’t even think about them. There is a bright chance you would go bankrupt if you travel by auto daily.  The buses –   Best certainly came up with bright ideas with no support of infrastructure.  A handcart runs faster than a BEST AC bus.

Travelling in Mumbai has certainly evolved with time but a few things are still same. For most students Railways are still best mode of travel as college provides concessions to students and one will always have a group to travel with. If you live in Borivali and work at Churchgate or you stay equivalently far on central line then again Railways are best options of travel.  However,

The onset of Eastern Express Highway (EEH) and Western Express Highway (WEH) has opened up avenues for alternative affordable travel in the city.  There are Non-AC corridor buses which travel on both highways and avoid some major traffic signals by using Flyover. Navi Mumbai Muncipal Corporation (NMMC) and Thane Muncipal Corporation (TMC) have come up with AC buses under JNNURM schemes which are awesome and affordable. 

Everything does look sorted. Yes it does, but this city is exploding with people. It is a black hole, the more you do – more you need to for the city and the city planners are aware of it. In last few years Metro has also come up, so is Santacruz Chembur Link Road and the freeway. Yet this city and its people battle travelling stress on day – today basis.  If one does ease bottle neck traffic at one place –it piles on at another location. The trains are no exception; we have witnessed more unplanned breakdowns during peak hours in past few years. The saga is endless.

The city has also seen onslaught of various radio taxis over the years.  The first mover was Meru, followed by Easy Cabs.  When Meru started in Mumbai they were at approximately Rs. 13/km. Today they are at approximately 20/km. The story of Ola cabs and Tabcab is no different. However, Uber is cheaper than most.  There is also Taxi For Sure which I have not used. To compete with Uber - Ola has introduced Ola share and the joke lies there itself. If I can travel alone in all my privacy and misery at an incremental cost then why will I use Ola share. Though, I must agree that both companies enjoy loyal ridership which helps them sustain.  Yet one can’t travel with Uber on daily basis unless you got someone to share fare with.

In recent times, with growing users of cars, one other mode of travelling has come up in Mumbai –Carpool. It, I must confess is most desired ways to travel to work in the city.  The best way to carpool is to find someone who works in your company and brings vehicle. It’s best to latch on to them and pay them. If you can’t, don’t worry – there are two major carpool services that operate in Mumbai. One is Smart Mumbaikar and the other one is MeBuddie.

Mebuddie is a Pune based company who operate with website and they work with a payment gateway.  Their payment gateway charges are very high and also they retain some minimum balance. Since they do not have an office set up in Mumbai unlike Pune –coordination is a problem. I tried finding a good carpool partner, but I couldn’t. It looked unfeasible to me on most accounts unless they come up with plan.

Smart Mumbaikar operates through whatsapp group for various routes.  They charge 200 bucks as a joining fee and they continue to take this money. I have found it to be very useful and I have met some amazing people on this route. My hit rate of finding a carpool is now better than it was a year ago and I also recommend it to friends.  The issue with Smart Mumbaikar is that it is opaque – There is a possibility that if I might want to travel on another route then I need to get in touch with admin, which is a hassle. Mumbaikars love zero waiting time. They also organize dinner parties for networking, I haven’t been to them.

As of now biggest threat to these models are cities ever changing infra plans which include New Metro route, coastal roads and much awaited Goregaon- Mulund link road, and elevated railway corridors on western line. There is another threat of regulations which tends to benefit union backed Kali-peeli and Autos who at the moment enjoy high fares.

There are other travelling options such as Limo & Buspool but the blogger has not got an opportunity evaluate them. Some other day I suppose. Till then – don’t stress yourself for travel.