For retired couple Ovita and Ajit Parulekar, nights are not what they used to be. Their social life, once hobbled by road closures and chronic congestion around their Shivaji Park home, has shifted from first gear to fourth. And they have the cause of their erstwhile exasperation to thank for it—Metro 3 or the Aqua Line. “Our social life has greatly improved; we go out more often now because it’s easy to travel both to BKC and South Mumbai on the Aqua Line. Moreover, it’s comfortable and safe for seniors, even late at night. Previously, we had to resort to Ubers,” says Parulekar, a former state-level hockey and basketball player who retired from SBI a decade ago. The new line has also freed the Parulekars from the routine gamble over parking space. Earlier, they drove their car only when traffic on their street was thin, wary of losing their spot. The metro has driven this worry away. 2025 was the year that launched, or extended, several transportation projects, such as the Aqua Line, the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR), Vikhroli East-West Flyover and the northbound connector bridge on the Coastal Road. These projects have done more than cut short commute; they’ve opened opportunities to socialise, pursue neglected hobbies, and enjoy a better quality of life. Metro 3 experienced a surge in passenger traffic in the week leading up to Dec 31. It even ran special services past midnight to cater to New Year revellersKhushi Rawat, a PR professional who made a career move from Kota to Mumbai four years ago, said she relocated from Chembur to Ghatkopar to make the most of the metro network. “Ghatkopar is well connected to all the three metro lines, making it easy to travel to south Mumbai and western suburbs,” said Rawat, who works at Saki Naka. Previously, when she took the train, her commute was extended by road traffic. But the Aqua Line, with multiple stops in Andheri, allows her to exit close to her office. Now, it takes me about 30 minutes to travel one way when it would have previously taken over an hour. I have put a strain on my living budget but it’s worth it; the shift has made life easier.” Krishnaprasad K, another fan of the Aqua Line, finds himself reading more than he used to. KP to his friends, the PR professional, has turned a drawback of the underground line—poor internet—into an advantage by using his commute, from Mahalaxmi to Saki Naka, to dive into a book. Yet, even as commuters applaud its benefits, they also call out the Metro’s flaws. Poor mobile connectivity is a universal concern. “It’s especially challenging if you need to coordinate with someone on where to meet or at which station to get off,” says Parulekar. She highlights another problem seniors in particular face—the long walk from the station entrance to the platform. “Elders may find it difficult to walk the distance,” she says. Some enjoy the knock-on benefits of a new transport system, even when it’s not the road they themselves travel. It was the SCLR that elevated marketing professional Anand Vaidya’s quality of life by simply easing traffic on Nehru Road, Vakola, where he lives. “Driving from Vakola to my office in Lower Parel takes me around 40 minutes. Before the SCLR was opened, it took me an additional 40 minutes to cover the 300m from the Western Express Highway to my house,” he says, recalling the anxiety of having to cut through the thick wedge of traffic at Vakola Junction, while braving horns and road rage. For many Mumbaikars, the daily commute feels like a battle that costs time, money, energy and opportunity. The string of new projects is finally placing commuters on the winning side, notes Madhvendra Das, who runs a communications consulting firm. He compares the current infrastructure run with the spate of urban developments the city witnessed in the late 1990s-early 2000s, with new flyovers, the Bandra-Worli Sea Link and the Mumbai Urban Transport Project initiated. “The current phase feels like the quantum leap in commuting we witnessed back then,” he says. “It’s one big liberating moment.” But for selective sections of the city, observes Sudhir Badami wryly. The civil engineer, transportation analyst and IITian points out the new infrastructure caters chiefly to those with access to private, 4-wheeler transport. It conveys the impression that “it is their commuting time the govt values and is attempting to save, while it has no concern for the larger population that continues to travel in miserable and often risky conditions,” says Badami, who is also a member of the CM’s taskforce for the integration of public transport in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. His book on commuting outlines ways in which the govt can course-correct and design an integrated transportation plan that works for all. This includes a premium Bus Rapid Transit System network; microbuses to improve last-mile connectivity; metros operated at design capacity—and, of course, equitable pricing. “Ultimately, you must have a transport system that caters to every section of society.” (With inputs by Asmita Dey)
