My city my problem: Public transport, hanging on for dear life

It should be good news that the city’s public transport systems carry just a little under 78% of commuters daily. The problem, however, is that Mumbaikars use the overcrowded trains and endure the long wait for buses only because there’s no option.

Consider some recent developments:
Last week, the iconic Central Railway crossed a major milestone — 40 lakh commuters per day, a figure, railway officials admit, is nothing to be proud of. It simply meant that your sardine-like commute just received a stronger squeeze.

One of the country’s finest road transport utilities, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST), has begun cutting services on its air-conditioned routes. Ironically, it was started to entice the private car traveller to opt for public transport.

The number of taxis has fallen too — from 55,000 to around 37,000. Fleet taxis are plagued by union trouble and subsequent losses. Autorickshaws have hogged the lion’s share but only to be wracked by complaints of refusal to ply and tampered meters. A recent demand for another 1 lakh autorickshaws threatens to throw suburban traffic completely out of kilter.

Perhaps it is BEST’s fall that is most reflective of how the city’s public transport system, bursting at the seams, is taking a hit despite some silver lining. BEST, which over the years has been improving its engineering department to bring down on-road breakdowns of its buses, has finally shown some promise.

BEST data shows the number of vehicles breaking down on the roads has come down from 64 buses per day (1.57%) of the average fleet of 3,878 since last year to 57 (1.35%). With 3,400 buses running on CNG, which over the past few years has been spared crippling rate hikes, the undertaking’s bills have remained close to Rs194 crore annually for some time now.

“We didn’t have any wage revision since 2006 and the revision done effective from April 2012 has cost us Rs350 crore. The diesel price hike also hit us hard. But I believe that we are on the right track and, if all goes according to plan, we should be able to break even by 2016. While we are rejuvenating the undertaking, there shouldn’t be any drastic CNG price hike,” said OP Gupta, BEST general manager.

For the railways, the thinning of crowd is a long shot, and with no new lines anywhere on the anvil for the next five years at least, there is no denying that people will switch over to private vehicles at the first chance they get.

“Think of it. Does anyone want to take a train during peak hours? It is the most horrible kind of commute anywhere in the world but we don’t have a choice. Unless we see the Churchgate-Virar, CST-Panvel and CST-Kalyan elevated lines running and also some of the other routes such as Virar-Panvel, there is no respite. CR has crossed the 40 lakh per day figure and it’s just a matter of time before WR, which carries 35.5 lakh people per day, also crosses the mark. But is it anything to be proud of?” asked a railway official.

WR, whose suburban system went completely on Alternating Current last February, is seeing its power consumption coming down, but its bills increasing.
The Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar metro rail and the Wadala-Chembur monorail will be up and running by yearend, but officials are unsure if either will actually decongest the roads or the trains. As of now, the fate of public transport in the city still depends on how these two perform and how quickly other alternatives get developed. Or else, Mumbaikars’ daily commute will remain one that has to be endured because of the TINA factor — There Is No Alternative.

@binoonair