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Envisioning a Car-Free Mumbai
February 24, 2010 | 4 Comments
By Megan McConville

Last Sunday, 140,000 Mumbaikers showed up on Bandra’s Carter Road to celebrate their city’s first-ever Car Free Day.  The Khar-Bandra-Santacruz Foundation organized the event, with co-sponsors including the Pirojsha Godrej Foundation, EMBARQ (producer of …

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Bus Lanes Can Cut Mumbai’s Congestion, Study Says
March, 15 2010 | No Comment
A new study shows that buses in designated lanes, like these in Delhi, can carry more people using less road space. Photo: jenspie3.

A new study shows that buses in designated lanes, like these in Delhi, can carry more people using less road space. Photo by jenspie3.

Cars take up more space on Mumbai’s roads than buses and carry fewer passengers, says a recently released study. What’s more, a mere 10-20% increase in the number of buses along with designated bus lanes can make a serious dent in congestion and pollution.

More than 65% of the space at the city’s arterial junctions is occupied by cars, which carry around 40% of the total number of passengers. In contrast, buses occupy just 8% of road space at the same junctions and carry 45% of the passengers.

Increasing the number of buses on the busiest routes and creating designated bus lanes will boost bus ridership and decrease the number of vehicles on the roads. In effect, this change could greatly improve the efficiency of Mumbai’s transportation systems. One lane generally carries 2,000 people instead of the 20,000 it could carry with separated bus lanes, according to Madhav Pai, technical director of the Centre for Sustainable Transport in India (part of the EMBARQ Network, which produces this blog.) Read the full story »

BRT Lurching Ahead in India
March, 5 2010 | 2 Comments
BRT Lurching Ahead in India

Last Friday, sustainable transport advocates came a step closer to gaining widespread support for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in India when Bangalore officials announced that the government will move ahead with the implementation of the …

Thinking Beyond the Mumbai Metro
March, 3 2010 | One Comment
Thinking Beyond the Mumbai Metro

Carrie Denning recently spent time living in Mumbai and working with Bombay First to explore how the Mumbai metro can raise revenues beyond the fare box.  She is currently a Lokey Fellow at the Environmental …

Pedaling Toward a Cycling Culture in Mumbai
March, 3 2010 | One Comment
Pedaling Toward a Cycling Culture in Mumbai

There’s no doubt about it: a bicycling culture is budding in Mumbai. All in the past month, TheCityFix Mumbai reported on the city’s first Car Free Day, which coincided with the city’s first “Cyclothon …

Envisioning a Car-Free Mumbai
February, 24 2010 | 4 Comments
Envisioning a Car-Free Mumbai

Last Sunday, 140,000 Mumbaikers showed up on Bandra’s Carter Road to celebrate their city’s first-ever Car Free Day.  The Khar-Bandra-Santacruz Foundation organized the event, with co-sponsors including the Pirojsha Godrej Foundation, EMBARQ (producer of …

After Office Hours, It’s Time to Go Cycling
February, 19 2010 | 5 Comments
After Office Hours, It’s Time to Go Cycling

If you are a professional based in Mumbai and wish to take up cycling, daytime traffic and lack of personal time are probably your biggest concerns. To deal with this problem, a bunch of individuals …

UPCOMING EVENT: Mumbai to Host Its First “Car Free Day”
February, 19 2010 | 2 Comments
UPCOMING EVENT: Mumbai to Host Its First “Car Free Day”

This upcoming Sunday, February 21, for the first time ever, Mumbai is holding a Car Free Day, similar to Ciclovia in Bogotá and Summer Streets in New York City. The all-day event is organized by …

Transport a Priority in Mumbai’s Planning Budget
February, 12 2010 | 2 Comments
Transport a Priority in Mumbai’s Planning Budget

The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) budget for 2010-11 was approved on Tuesday.  The planning agency has proposed an annual outlay of Rs 6,143 crore (last year’s was Rs 6,653 crore).  For international readers, …

Creating Streets for Walkers and Hawkers
February, 10 2010 | One Comment
Creating Streets for Walkers and Hawkers

This post is intended as a follow-up to Erica Schlaikjer’s recent post about the new “skywalks” in Mumbai. She highlighted several common criticisms – that these elevated walkways are inaccessible for the old and the …

Mumbai’s Monorail: Breakthrough or Blunder?
February, 10 2010 | 7 Comments
Mumbai’s Monorail: Breakthrough or Blunder?

Engineers recently completed a much-anticipated trial run of India’s first monorail car in Mumbai. The trial was an early test of the Mumbai Monorail Project, an initiative of the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority aimed at …

Want a Sustainable Future? Act Now to Curb “Automobile Ubiquity” in Mumbai
February, 6 2010 | No Comment
Want a Sustainable Future? Act Now to Curb “Automobile Ubiquity” in Mumbai

Last July, Mumbai celebrated the opening of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, a bridge to connect the island city of Mumbai with its surrounding western suburbs. This feat of construction was built not just to connect two …