Day 6/ 365 – Mumbai traffic woes

Today after the MBA lectures got over, we decided to go for snacks to a nearby place. We were in a friends car when suddenly we started discussing how much of a pain it is to drive in this city. There are traffic jams everywhere and nothing is being done to manage them. I got a car recently and to be honest, I dread about driving it in Mumbai traffic. There are vehicles everywhere. If you are not surrounded by vehicles, then there would be people jay walking. If not people, there would be cows and if not cows there are always dogs!! I mean there is place for everyone but for you to drive. Recently the government approved some 3000 odd rickshaw permits, don’t know where they would be driving or where we would be driving. The traffic situation, I feel, is worst in the suburbs with auto rickshaws and bikes cramming for every little available space.

This leads to the question: how to manage all this much traffic? May be some sort of car pool system. Or may be rickshaws/ taxis could operate only during designated hours during the day or only a fixed number of rickshaws or taxis to operate during the day. Probably this would help reduce the number of vehicles on the road and thus freeing up some space for the private vehicle to drive. Also private vehicles should be occupied with minimum 4 people while on the street. This would also encourage people to carpool and reduce pollution as well as the number of vehicles on the street.

I feel these are some solutions that the government should initiate as soon as possible to reduce the traffic woes that have currently plagued the city. All of these initiatives require political will and discipline from the citizens of the city. Will be able to implement any of these? Only time will tell.