Too many cars, but not enough buses

The utter neglect of Mumbai’s public transport has again been brought to the fore. A traffic count conducted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has revealed that the city’s roads have far too many cars and very few buses.

Buses — private as well as public — account for only 2% of all the vehicles plying through the city’s busiest traffic junctions. In comparison, cars and taxis make up for 78% of all vehicular traffic passing through these busy traffic junctions in the city.

The BMC surveying team found that on an average the junctions see three buses per  100 four-wheelers. The bus count, however, slightly improves during peak hours, when it is four buses per 100 four-wheelers.

The ratio is skewed even though a public transport bus — the most affordable form of road transport — is expected to carry an average of 50 people, whereas local transport studies have revealed that the average passenger load for a car is less than two people; 1.8 to be precise.

Also, basic transportation and communication statistics compiled by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) show that only 379 public buses have been added in the last fifteen years.

On the other hand, the number of private cars has increased by over 12 lakh during the same period.

Transport planners have been long pushing for implementation of the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) for augmenting public transport. However, the BRTS does not figure on the city’s priority list.