In Thane, pedestrians are stuck between a rock and a hard place

At first glance, when one steps out of Thane station in the west, it appears to be business as usual. There is the long, winding queue of passengers waiting for their buses and rickshaws, the station area traffic improvement scheme (SATIS) above for buses' movement and the crowded rickshaw stand. 

However, attempt to walk on one of the foothpaths towards Talao Pali, and one realises that they are meant for the hawkers and shopkeepers rather than pedestrians. Combine that with the dual horror on walking on roads where vehicles drive past with little to no concern for the stranded pedestrian. Truly stuck between a rock and a hard place.

While weekends are easier, the weekdays are a nightmare for office-goers and college students alike when they have to walk from under the SATIS on the station road in Thane. The neatly queued rickshaws take-off with passengers, only to get stuck at the traffic signal before Alok Hotel. “While walking towards our college, we are swimming against the tide when we have to cross the sea of office-goers rushing to catch the train,” says Mangesh Shinde, 17 a student of MH High School and Junior College near Talao Pali.

To make matters worse, though there are few hawkers around at 8 am, the footpath near Alok Hotel is already swallowed up by the shops of the area, leaving barely 1.5 feet for people to walk. At rush hour, around 10.30 am, this becomes worse as parked cars are added into the mix with a co-operative bank on the road while hawkers have come to take up the remainder of the footpath. “This leaves hardly any space for us to walk on the footpath. So, we walk in the middle of the road and brave vehicles coming from behind,” he added.

When contacted, Ashok Burpulle, head of Thane Municipal Corporation's demolition department, said, “Besides our periodic checks, we have our flying squads who do surprise raids to remove these hawkers. Efforts are on to make the footpaths hawker- and encroachment-free,” he said.

ZIP, ZOOM, NO ROOM (TO WALK)

Parked vehicles, auto drivers racing past leave locals fuming

2.5 ft Width of the footpath

20 minutes Time it takes to walk a 7-min stretch

9 metre Width of the road

RESIDENTS RUE ZOOMING VEHICLES

If there is traffic on the road, then it takes me 15-20 minutes to reach my college, otherwise it is just a five to seven minute walk from the station. The footpaths are occupied with hawkers and so we have to walk on the road.
— Sadhana Jagtap, 16, Student, MH High School and Junior College

While there are hawkers on the footpath, rickshaws and bikes are parked on the road, making it difficult to walk on the footpath. One has to brave the vehicles coming from behind, which is dangerous. During peak hours when hawkers are both on the foothpath as well as the road, it takes more than half-an-hour to reach Talaopali from the station. If we are walking with our family, then add 15-20 minutes more.
— Narendra Kasbe, 40 Thane resident

There is hardly any place to walk on the footpath so we walk on the road to reach college. I am scared of the vehicles zooming past, yet have no option but to walk amidst them. The entire road is so crowded with share a rickshaw calling out for passengers, honking vehicles, and officegoers rushing to the station.
— Janhvi Patil, 17, Student,  MH High School and Junior College