Types of Transportation in MumbaiTransportation in Mumbai is a huge problem, especially due to the geography of the island. There is a large concentration of all the commercial and administrative functions on the southern end of the island due to the fact that the fort was located there and has since developed into a modern Central Business District. The only highways that exist in Mumbai are the East and West Highways that run north/south along the eastern and western coasts of the island. The city's system was modeled after the London transportation system with the exception of the Underground Metro. Mumbai's lack of a subway system has been severely detrimental to the commuting congestion and times that the city experiences.
Types of Transportation in MumbaiMumbai has several different bus systems, all owned by private companies. The largest is the BEST bus system with 3031 buses which carry an average of 5 million people per day. The road network consists of 1431 kilometers of thoroughfares which handle an average of 6.2 million people per day. However, the most used mode of transportation is rail. The main rail roads follow the same paths of the highways and terminate at Victoria Terminus on the east and Bombay Central Station on the west. The number of commuters using railroads has increased five fold between 1959 and 1989.
Not only was the Mumbai transportation system modeled after the London
system, it was pretty much developed in conjunction with it. As London developed
a system, Mumbai would receive it approximately five years later. Tram service
in Mumbai began in 1870. It remained until the 1950s when people felt that
the trams were becoming obsolete even though their passenger carrying capacity
was 50% greater than buses, they were more energy 
efficient, cleaner
and could be easily modernized. But, unfortunately the government did a
study and ruled that buses would be more effective. The last tram ran in
1964. This was perhaps the first blow to transportation development in Mumbai.
The second came in 1974 with the abolition of the trolley bus. The trolley
bus was much like a bus, but it ran on electricity, was quiet and was able
to follow routes that the large diesel buses could not run on. After the
termination of these two systems, transportation development has been extremely
difficult in Mumbai.
Today one of the major problems in Mumbai is traveling distances. The average distance traveled per passenger of mass transportation is 6 kilometers, nearly one-third the length of the island of Mumbai. Because of the overcrowding on the mass transit system, many people are switching to scooters or mopeds. This is problematic because it does not help with the pollution problem that Mumbai faces. Also non-transportation uses of roads, such as squatting, slums and haphazard parking has not helped the situation much either. However, one of the major problems that Mumbai has with its transportation system is that it is not run by one governing body. All of the different modes of transportation are owned by different groups, both private and governmental. If they were able to forma city transportation agency, then perhaps progress towards better modes of mass transit, such as a subway, would be possible.
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