Transport in Mumbai

Public Transport in Mumbai involves the transport of millions of citizens of Mumbai. Most of the citizens use public transport as only the elite can afford cars.

Road Transport

History of public Road Transport

Upto 1920

The Bombay Tramway Company Limited was formally set up in 1873. After a contract was entered into between the Bombay Tramway Company and the municipality, the Government of Mumbai enacted the Bombay Tramways Act, 1874, under which the Company was licenced to run a tramway service in the city. The tram-cars were of two kinds-those drawn by one horse and those drawn by two. In 1905, a newly formed concern, “The Bombay Electric Supply & Tramways Company Limited” bought the Bombay Tramway Company and the first electrically operated tram-car appeared on Mumbai’s roads in 1907. The passing years aggravated the problem of rush-hour traffic and to ease the situation, double decker trams were introduced in September, 1920.

1920-1940

Mumbai saw its first bus run on 15th July, 1926. The people of Mumbai received the bus with enthusiasm, but it took quite sometime before this means of conveyance really established itself. For several years, it was looked upon as transport for the upper middle class. Those were the days when the tram was the poor man’s transport, carried one all the way from Sassoon Dock to Dadar for a mere anna and a half, that was nine paise. The bus fare for the same journey was four annas, that is 25 paise.

In response to the pleas made by the Government and the Brihan Mumbai Mahanagarpalika, the Company extended its services to the northern part of the city in 1934. Double deck buses were introduced in 1937 in order to cope better with the growing traffic. The first Limited Bus service in Mumbai, and probably the first in the country as well, started running in 1940 between Colaba and Mahim.

Post 1940

Pursuant to the option given to it under the Deed of Concession granted to the Bombay Electric Supply and Tramways Co.Ltd, the Brihan Mumbai Mahanagarpalika acquired on 7th August, 1947, the assets of the combined Undertaking, namely the operation of tramways and distribution of electricity in the city of Mumbai as a going concern. By mutual agreement, the Corporation also took over the operation of the bus services, which was run by the B.E.S & T Company Ltd.

Thus, the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport Company was municipalised and came to be known as Bombay Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking.

When the Corporation took over the Company in 1947, there were 242 buses in operation on 23 routes and these buses carried 2.38 lakh passengers per day. At present, there are 3380 buses carrying 45 lakhs passengers daily on 335 routes.

Number of taxis (cabs): 30,000-45,000

Railway Network

The Mumbai Suburban Railway system carries more than 6.1 million commuters everyday. It has the highest passenger density in the World. More than half of the total daily passenger trips on Indian Railways are performed on Mumbai Suburban Railway system.

Mumbai Suburban Railway system, in spite of heavy demands on it, has provided an "efficient" and "reliable" service. Overcrowding has grown to such an extent that 4,700 passengers are traveling per 9-car train during peak hours, as against the rated carrying capacity of 1,700. This has resulted in, what is known as, super dense crush load of 14-16 standing passengers per square metre of floor space!

Given the geographical spread of the population and location of business areas, the rail network will continue to be the principal mode of mass transport in Mumbai.

To enable the Mumbai Suburban Railway to meet the demands of the ever-growing passenger traffic , Ministry of Railways and the Government of Maharashtra envisioned MRVC.

Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Ltd (MRVC Ltd), a public sector unit of Govt. of India under Ministry of Railways (MOR) was incorporated under Companies Act,1956 on July 12, 1999. with an equity capital of Rs. 25 Crores shared in the ratio of 51:49 between Ministry of Railways and Government of Maharashtra to implement the Rail Component of an integrated rail-cum-road urban transport project called Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP). The cost of the Rail Component of the project is to be shared equally by Ministry of Railways and Government of Maharashtra.

The Suburban Railway system in Mumbai is perhaps the most complex, densely loaded and intensively utilised system in the world. Spread over 302 route Kms, it operates on 1500 Volt DC power supply from overhead catenary. The suburban services are run by electric multiple units (EMUs). 184 rakes (train sets) of 9-car and 12-car composition are utilised to run 2067 train services to carry 6.1 million passengers per day.

Two zonal Railways, the Western Railway (WR) and the Central Railway (CR), operate the Mumbai Suburban Railway system.

Two corridors (one local and other through) on Western Railway run northwards from Churchgate terminus parallel to the west coast up to Virar (60 Kms).

Two corridors (one local and other through) on Central Railway run from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) to Kalyan (54 Kms),from where it bifurcates into Kalyan-Kasara (67 Kms) in the north-east and Kalyan-Karjat-Khopoli(61 Kms) in south-east.

The 5th corridor on Central Railway runs as the Harbour line starting from CST to Raoli Junction (11 Kms) from where the line splits. One line goes north west to join WR at Bandra and goes up to Andheri (11 Kms) and the other goes eastward to terminate at Panvel (39 Kms) via New-Mumbai.

At present, the fast corridors on Central Railway as well as Western Railway are shared for long distance (Main line) and Freight trains.

Stations on Churchgate-Virar corridor

(within Greater Mumbai)

In sequence Churchgate, Marine Lines, Charni Road, Mumbai Central, Mahalaxmi, Lower Parel, Elphinstone Road, Dadar, Matunga Road, Mahim, Bandra, Khar Road, Santacruz, Vile Parle, Andheri, Jogeshwari, Goregaon, Malad, Kandivali, Borivali, Dahisar.

Stations on CST-Kalyan corridor