u/Real-Implement5654

This is the upcoming Thane-Diva Bullet Train Station, But there seems to be no rail connectivity from or the station as the Diva-Suburban Station is 2 kms away. So will this World Class Infra be connected By Shuttle Buses and Rickshaw or will there be an upcoming Suburban station between Diva and Kopar.

Is this not the problem In the entire Mumbai region With good Infra but bad connectivity.

Of all the places I have dined in Mumbai, nothing does authentic Marathi food like Aaswad in Dadar. Their Piyush, Thal peeth, Kothimbir wadi and even the controversial Puran Poli Icecream is simply next level food heaven.

What's the view of Mumbaikars? Any place in Mumbai/Thane/Navi Mumbai that's better with Marathi food than this?

After a long 10 months of hiatus for overhaul, state government has finally approved reopening of the Monorail with new rakes, improved frequently and better signalling system in place. Better connectivity for the soon to open Chembur station on line 2B and travelator connection to Line 3 Mahalakshmi station is also a welcome change.

But as is their won't, MMRDA is set to mar the project with some idiosyncratic decisions again.

1. Proposal to increase fare in line with Line 3 (from current 10-40 to 10-70) have come up. Mono can in no way provide the comfort like full metro, idiotic to equate fares while ridership is low.

2. No overload sensors or automated crowd control systems have been put in place despite the accidents caused by overcrowding last year. While officials say, they'll monitor the crowd stringently, it was better if automated systems were put in place for this.

3. Not giving seamless connection to Aqua Line at Saat Rasta and terminating the travelator Skywalk before the traffic junction will not yield the interchange benefits as envisaged.

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Hope MMRDA wakes up and addresses these and makes this white elephant a behemoth of Mumbai's public.

Just read this Indian Express piece on the rise of Chalo Bus and Cityflo, and I think it highlights something quite unique about Mumbai's transport ecosystem. Unlike most Indian cities, MMR has developed a fairly strong culture of premium app-based bus commuting like CityFlo and Chalo. These services are expensive to other transit options, but they offer something that many office commuters value enormously: a guaranteed seat, predictable journey times, and freedom from the crushing peak-hour crowding that defines much of Mumbai's daily commute. For people travelling from Borivali, Thane, Navi Mumbai or other suburbs to places like BKC, Lower Parel and Andheri, they have become a genuine alternative to driving.

In that sense, I think they are a success story. If the goal is to get people out of private cars and into shared transport, then comfortable bus services are a much easier sell than asking everyone to accept standing for an hour in a packed train or bus.

At the same time, their growth raises an interesting question. The average Chalo Bus commute is around 27 km, while the average BEST bus passenger travels only about 7 km. That is a huge difference. It suggests that these services are not simply offering a premium version of an existing bus journey. They are filling a mobility gap that traditional bus operators have not been able to address effectively.

A lot of these routes connect distant residential areas directly with major employment centres. They cut across municipal boundaries and reduce transfers. More importantly, they guarantee a seat. That last point is probably underestimated. For many commuters, comfort and certainty matter just as much as travel time.

We are constantly discussing fleet shortages, depot redevelopment, declining bus availability per capita, and the struggle to provide reliable service in a rapidly growing region. When private operators find a large market for long-distance, comfortable, direct bus services, it is worth asking whether they have identified demand that public operators either overlooked or could not serve.

I don't see these services as a competitive threat to public transport. If anything, they are helping expand the overall transit market. But their popularity does feel like food for thought. They show that there is significant demand for high-quality bus travel in Mumbai. The question is whether BEST, NMMT and others should view that as a small niche or as evidence that there are gaps in the existing network that still need to be addressed.

How many of you remember this? The tagline still hits: "Yaad rahe namak desh ka khaya hai"