Mumbaikars, as residents of the country’s financial capital are known, spend the least on transport among all Indians living in major cities.
Mumbai also has the highest public transport patronage with adequate availability spanning the city, including at night, according to the Ola Mobility Institute Foundation’s Ease Of Moving Index (EoMI) India report released yesterday (April 25).
The financial capital of India also ranked the highest in road safety. “Mumbai recorded the lowest number of road incidents per lakh (0.1 million) population in 2021 across cities,” the survey report said.
The survey carried out in 2021 covered more than 50,000 citizens, focus group discussions, and government data.
Why Mumbai aces its transportation game?
The relatively high efficiency and cost-effectiveness of Mumbai’s public transport system is a product of the investments made in it by authorities governing the mega urban agglomeration.
Mumbai’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is India’s largest and richest civic body. For the year 2023-24, it has an annual estimated budget of $6.3 million, the highest among all Indian cities.
“The city has the most affordable suburban rail services colloquially known as local trains,” the EoMI report said. The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority is also developing more than 180 kilometres of metro network at a budget of over $20 billion.
Such large spending enables the city to boast of cheap public transportation.
How other Indian cities fare in mobility
Nationally, Mumbai is ranked second in terms of ease of movement, behind the neighboring Pune-Pimpri Chinchwad. Aizawl, the capital of the northeastern state of Mizoram, has the least-polluting mobility and the highest rate of adoption of cashless payments for mobility services, EoMi said.
Besides, indicating an improvement in the perception of public transport users towards its cleanliness,
The public transport facilities of 12 cities received higher cleanliness ratings in the latest EoMI report than in the previous one of 2018. Ahmedabad had the most hygienic one.