Transportation

Had the good fortune of traveling to two diverse cities and experiencing the public transportation system there. I am a Mumbaikar and am very critical of the prevelant transportation system here. The only one reason why thoughts of resettling elsewhere crops up in the devil’s workshop is because of the pathetic roads and overcrowded trains. It takes a minimum of an hour or two to reach office on any given day. Maybe I should negotiate to get that time added to my work timesheet ;-)

Anyways, I had been to Sydney on an official tour and on return immediately went to Tirunelveli, the land of my ancestors. Sydney has a vibrant transportation system – Buses, Trams, Mono Rail, Trains all are functional. After traveling in the congested Mumbai local trains, traveling in the airconditioned double dickered train was a pleasure.

In Tirunelveli, buses are the norm. They have got amazing coverage and frequency. The private sector too runs their own buses and this has increased the competition. The roads are generally well maintained, at least on the routes I was frequenting on.

When will Mumbai rise to the challenge the ever growing population keeps throwing on it? When will traveling in Mumbai be a pleasure?