Mumbai has been through significant change over the years. The city originally consisted of seven islands, but, following more than a century of reclamation projects, now sits as a single landmass. Its next challenge will be to lay down the foundations of a sustainable, safe and efficient mobility ecosystem, as urbanisation pushes the city to its limits.
Mumbai is described by many as the financial epicentre of India—it runs the country, as locals put it—but pockets of wealth remain interspersed with extreme poverty: more than 40% of Mumbai’s estimated 22 million inhabitants live in slums today. At an event held by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and materials supplier Covestro, which gathered figures from a range of industries to discuss the long-term future of mobility in the city, M:bility learned that it is under greater pressure to adapt than ever.
Talk of a new age in mobility is hard to imagine when taking to the capital’s city streets. Transforming the level of safety, accessibility and efficiency will be a herculean task, but the city’s future depends on it. “If we do not move people efficiently in future, we will not be a strong economy,” warned Ashish Kumar Singh, Principle Secretary of Transport & Port at the Government of Maharashtra, India’s wealthiest state.
Congestion hampers mobility
Including two- and three-wheelers and passenger cars, nearly every household in India owns a vehicle, and the CII estimates that around 200 new vehicles are added to Mumbai’s vehicle parc each day. “Mumbai is a city of extremes,” noted Markus Steilemann, Chief Executive of performance materials supplier Covestro at the event. “You can sit in traffic for hours, and yet we still want to own a car here.”
Parking limitations have also been exacerbated by the attraction of new companies into Mumbai’s business districts. “As we become bigger, large companies are mushrooming within the city,” said Singh. “Trucks, cars and other vehicles cannot be parked far away from the city when it comes to freight deliveries. Unfortunately, they utilise prime space without being used—in some cases 23 hours a day, seven days a week—occupying space and causing congestion.”
The needs of those without a vehicle also need to be better addressed, argued Singh. According to analysis from the CII, around 40% of journeys within Mumbai are carried out on foot. More must be done to improve the mobility of buses, said Singh, “which are more efficient and cheaper” compared to private vehicles and taxis. However, with dedicated bus lanes only occasionally found on arterial links out of the city, buses are often stuck in traffic. “The only solution is mass rapid transit systems, or the city will choke,” warned Vinod Rohira, Managing Director, Commercial Real Estate at K Raheja Corp.
Mumbai’s current rail network is heavily relied on for commuters making their way in and out of the city each day, and with limited lines and carriage sizes, it is not a comfortable or safe journey. Carriages are stuffed with paying travellers like sardines—a dynamic that most have simply accepted. “High-speed rail networks could be a game changer,” commented Ashutosh Limaye, Director, Consulting Practice at Anarock Property Consultants. An underground line that is currently under construction will supplement the existing overground metro line, which connects the east and west of the city. “We are seeing Mumbai spend extreme amounts of money on infrastructure, but this is extremely necessary for mobility,” noted Rohira.
Safety
In December 2017, former joint commissioner of police for Mumbai Traffic, B K Upadhaya, told The Times of India that the culture around Indian road safety needs to change. “In foreign countries, both pedestrians and motorists follow the traffic system and guidelines,” he said. “In India, such a system is not up to the mark.”
This becomes immediately apparent when taking to the road. During a visit to Colaba, Mumbai’s main tourist district, one scooter rider collided with a taxi as he cut across an intersection at the last minute. Both parties simply shared a glance, gestured that all was well, and continued with their day. This nonchalance can be seen across all road users, including pedestrians, who simply merge with oncoming traffic to cross the road. Locals argue it is a system that works, but the statistics suggest otherwise: in 2016, 577 people died on Mumbai roads, down from 611 the year previous.
Police officers enforce the flow of traffic for many large intersections, and camera systems have been installed across the city to catch those that run red lights. However, a single journey quickly highlights that this is rarely adhered to. It is widely described as organised chaos, and questions have been asked of the effectiveness of these cameras. “When does anybody ever get pulled up on this data coming from the traffic cameras?” mused Jayant Kohale, Business Head at RPG Smart Infra, a conglomerate that sits on India’s Smart City Council. Rupee fines may not be the best solution to red light jumping, he continued. “The system could be points-based, rather than a fine—some drivers could keep paying 100 rupees without breaking a sweat,” he explained.
Heavy-duty trucks dominate the road even within the heart of the city. These tall, heavy vehicles with poor visibility—some operate with broken mirrors that hang limply to the side of the vehicle—do not bode well for micro-mobility options without dedicated lanes. “I would cycle, but it is just too dangerous,” noted Rohira. “I’d need to carry my insurance policy with me.” In September, e-scooter start-up Bird posted a job listing for a Mumbai-based General Manager. However, the current safety dynamic could see micro-mobility solutions such as e-scooters and e-bikes struggle. On Mumbai’s crowded streets today, it would prove extremely dangerous unless drastic changes to road infrastructure are seen.
Autonomous unlikely for the foreseeable
Elsewhere, driverless shuttles are widely believed as the answer to mobility issues faced in urban areas. In India, the prospect is somewhat hampered by notoriously busy, unstructured road networks and frantic driving styles. Integrating an autonomous vehicle (AV) within the centre of Mumbai would frankly seem ludicrous at this point, but with a long-term view in mind, the possibility has not been ruled out. “AVs would perhaps be a good answer,” said Singh. “You could get a car on demand without having to own it—it will be as good as ownership.”
Automakers in the country are not quite so bullish. “The required traffic and infrastructure solutions are not there yet,” Tom von Bonsdorff, ex-Managing Director of Volvo Cars India, told Automotive World in 2015. “In some of the most congested areas like Delhi, Pune or Mumbai, I do not see autonomous driving coming out.”
Speaking to M:bility in February, Tata Motors Chief Executive, Guenter Butschek, also snubbed the idea. “Autonomous [driving] will not be relevant in India,” he said. “We need to cover the most urgent use cases; radical solutions do not work here.” Referring to the common industry acronym CASE (Connected, Autonomous, Shared and Electric), Butschek advised that ‘CES’ is more appropriate. “I am sick and tired of being asked about what autonomous driving means in India,” he continued. “Here it is about driver assistance systems and making human driving safer.”
More roads, more problems?
Suggestions that road capacity could simply be expanded to deal with congestion have also been met with criticism. “If I’m getting fat, changing my dress size is not the solution,” said Desai. Instead, so-called ‘smart mobility solutions’ need to be considered. “More roads, metros and bridges may not be the answer,” he noted. “We have to change the strategy.”
Others industry observers share a similar opinion, suggesting that new roads will simply become an additional source of gridlock. “The real way we reduce congestion in cities is to keep personal cars on the outskirts or in designated areas, and have a planned, efficient, equal access transport system inside the city,” says Brian Moody, Executive Editor of Autotrader. Cities that add or expand roads will eventually “fall prey to the rule that if you add capacity, it’s going to just fill up anyway,” adds Nick Cohn, Senior Traffic Expert at TomTom.
“The increased industrialisation of urban areas is driving people into mega cities like Mumbai,” concluded Covestro’s Steilemann. “Mumbai is on one hand considered as the metropolis of India, while on the other, nearly half of its inhabitants are still living in slums. With innovative solutions, we can seek to respond to such challenges.” Mumbai will continue to attract new settlers at an alarming rate, but as a city that already struggles to meet the needs of its existing citizens, feasible mobility solutions must be rolled out in force. Traffic congestion, road safety and pollution will continue to worsen if the city drags its heels, but how and when such solutions may materialise remains up in the air.
This article appeared in the Q2 2019 issue of M:bility | Magazine. Follow this link to download the full issue.
