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.
