Improving Mumbai Urban Transportation: Challenges and Recommendations

This report examines the challenges facing Mumbai's urban transportation system, particularly focusing on the impact of increasing bus numbers on traffic congestion. It highlights the pressure exerted by rapid population and economic growth on existing infrastructure and emphasizes the need for optimal resource utilization. The report identifies key issues such as the disconnect between transportation planning and land use, the city's peninsula location favoring railway transport, modal split imbalances, and inadequate infrastructure. Furthermore, challenges faced by BEST, the primary bus service provider, including staff ratio issues, fare revision difficulties, and fuel price fluctuations, are discussed. The report concludes with recommendations for improving Mumbai's urban transport, including re-aligning transport regulations, restructuring the transport sector with government support and public participation, and mobilizing resources through infrastructure investment and capacity building initiatives. This analysis is crucial for achieving a sustainable and effective urban transport system in Mumbai.

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Increase in the number of buses in Mumbai will ultimately lead to traffic congestion. Currently,
Mumbai is experiencing high levels of traffic congestion due to the many vehicles that ply the
city every single day, (Singh et al., 2019). However, demand for public means of transport from
the bulging population of Mumbai has necessitated BEST to increase the number of buses
serving the city. Peninsula location of Mumbai has encouraged the use of railway transport as
opposed to bus riddance.
Rapid population growth and significant economic growth exert pressure on the available forms
of economic infrastructure that is important to enhance development and growth in the region. In
order to contain the pressure, it is important in meeting the transportation demands of the city
with the emphasis being made on the optimal use of the available resources, (Suman et al., 2017.
Pp. 69). Road transportation is vital in bringing equality in terms of basic education and
employment opportunities generation. In Mumbai, bus transport is normally a monopoly of
BEST.
Even though there are still small companies operating bus services in the city, they have not been
able to contain the monopolistic competition pressure exerted by BEST in terms of volumes of
buses run. This has made BEST to increase the number of buses plying in the city every single
year.
Need for efficient bus supply system in the city of Mumbai is desirable from societal view.
Mumbai needs a well-planned bus transport system that will be able to effectively provide high
levels of mobility to the populace of the city. The efficient, effective and sustainable bus
transport system is the one that permits members of the society and companies to mobility wants.
This should be done in a manner that safeguards human and environmental wellbeing, (Pai, and
Wilson, 2018). In order, for this to be achieved in Mumbai’s bus transport system, there is a need
to put into consideration all the variables that affect the transportation system during the decision
making the process.
Currently, the bus transportation plan in the city is poorly done giving the railway transportation
an edge over it. However, bus transport has experienced numerous challenges since its inception.
Today, the transport sector is facing major challenges that are as a result of the following
variables;
i. The existing disconnect between transportation planning and land use in the city
ii. Peninsula location of the city. This favors railway transportation as opposed to bus usage
iii. Imbalance in the city’s modal split

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iv. Inadequate infrastructure across the city
BEST has time and again pursued factors that will allow it to have an effective, efficient and
reliable bus service in the city. However, it has faced numerous challenges while administering
services. Some of the challenges include; bus staff ratio, fare revision mechanism difficulty, lack
of proper fleet utilization and the significant drop in the bus occupancy ratio, (Black, 2018).
Furthermore, high fuel prices have also been a challenge to the bus transportation sector in
Mumbai since most of the fuel prices are regulated by oil-producing countries. Cost of fuel and
the regulation on the basic employee salaries, variables which are not under the control of bus
service players, has made it challenging to cope.
Project recommendations
The penultimate result of any policy concerning urban transport is the achievement of
sustainable and effective urban transport facilities. After refined assessment of Mumbai city
urban mode of transports, the following recommendations are made.
a. Re-alignment of transport regulations
A sane transport system in Mumbai can be realized if the government and the concerned
authority put into place sound transport regulatory framework. A more comprehensive
transportation act should enact in the city detailing the activities of each mode of transport.
The city municipality can develop its own by-laws that can be operated in Mumbai, (Chandel
et al., 2017). A more comprehensive mobility plan should be developed by the city authority
which can be integrated with other statutory transport policies.
b. Transport sector restructuring
Progressive and innovative ideas in the transport sector aimed at achieving a sustainable
system require adequate support from the government. Adequate provision of resources,
transparency, political will, accountability, and sound leadership are vital in ensuring that
policies are implemented on time that will help win the public trust, (Hensher, 2017. Pp. 90).
Professionalism and capacities from the planning institutions leaderships are essential in the
creation of visions in regards to the future of the transport sector in Mumbai.
When policies are formulated, public and stakeholders participation is important in making
sure that decisions arrived at are inclusive socially and the public is engaged in a shared
vision for the city. In order to strengthen the bodies governing the city transport sector, it is
crucial to ensure that the finances are allocated for training purposes and personnel capacity

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building initiatives. This will empower the personnel and charge them with the positive
adrenaline needed in tackling complex obstacles in the urban transportation sector.
c. Mobilization of resources
Resource availability is vital in carrying out the mandate of coordinating urban transport
systems. They include; skilled labor, finances, technically qualified personnel and more
importantly relevant data that are used for sector planning reasons and decision-making
processes, (Pojani, and Stead, 2015. Pp. 7796). The following elaborate on the importance of the
resources to the sector;
i. Finances
Investment on infrastructure plays a major part in determining a sustainable transport system
in the city. In Mumbai, it is necessary that small but gradual steps are made in order to
correct the prevailing imbalance in the transport sector. This can be achieved by channelling
the necessary funds into improving the road network in the city and initiating other transport
projects. Funds allocation should be regarded as the rationale for the decision making
process. The prevailing bias in the allocation of the funds in financing city projects should be
replaced by having sufficient funds for expanding high capacity transport network.
ii. Capacity building
It is important to meet the professional needs of the personnel employed in the sector. This
entails reskilling of employees by implementing executive programs and recruiting qualified and
well-educated personnel. The sole purpose of capacity building and training is to equip the
employees with the needed skills for performing their duties. The city authority should,
therefore, establish a dedicated agency that will be performing this function.

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References
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Pai, N. and Wilson, C., 2018. Comparative Analysis of Mumbai and Bangalore’s State-Run
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Pojani, D. and Stead, D., 2015. Sustainable urban transport in the developing world: beyond
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