From Sea of Humanity to Sea of Vehicles

Our first day provided a full-on introduction to what must arguably be one of the world’s worst workday commuting experiences. We always complain in Washington DC about the parking lot-grade conditions of Beltway traffic, and lane closures due to construction sponsored by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. Well, it’s nothing compared to the evening commute in Mumbai as the masses leave their offices to head home from South Mumbai to the northern suburbs across half-finished flyovers, pot-hole riddled roads, 3-7 lanes of traffic each way (depending on the road), lack of clear lane markings, with a plethora of vehicle types including cars, buses, two-wheelers, lorries (so-called British trucks, who give one permission to “horn OK please,” oftentimes the only way to really get past), humans, squatters on pavements, piles of construction materials and debris, parked road construction equipment…the list is endless.

Our group set out to get dinner on Monday evening at a cosmopolitan Mall 20-25 minutes away in an air-conditioned tour bus. An hour and a half later, our spirits sagging, most of us were willing to forgo the promise of the cosmopolitan mall in favor of a passing McDonalds if we could just simply get off the bus! The water condensate dripping from the air condition ventilation system on the bus wasn’t helping matters. With the fast rising middle class hungry for trappings of economic success best described by a 4 wheeled car it boggles the mind as to how the nation’s 1.2 billion people may be vehicularly accommodated on its already highly congested road infrastructure. The smog being another point of concern!

A conversation with a taxicab driver, earlier in the afternoon, yielded the information that many cabs at least ran on diesel and that electric vehicles were starting to enter the market, which was a heartening thought. Although Mumbai boasts a strongly connected multi-modal public transportation system (bus, train, and soon to open subway), the sheer number of cars on the roads continues to grow. According to our afternoon cab driver, apparently statistics indicate that each day 250-300 new cars are added to the traffic pattern!

We did eventually get to dinner at the fancy mall (in of itself another story, it beats Tyson’s Galleria in McLean, VA, US), bolstered by the thought that our return journey at least would be faster since we’d be going against the flow of traffic. On our way back, past 9pm at night, the northbound lanes were still jam-packed and red with glowing tail-lights as far as the eye could see.

While the rest of the world debates the value of hybrid and alternative energy vehicles, one wonders how soon India can convert over or if it always remain a step or two behind with respect to energy technology. It would be interesting to look into how many of the country’s over 1 million NGOs are focused on the issue of energy and transportation sustainability.