The Infamous Subway

One can easily relate to a Mumbai's road imagine which is crowded, congested and filled with people, cars, heavy vehicles, honks, horns, shouts. And people get very less space in these busy streets. Now imagine you are a pedestrian trying to cross this road. How long would you take to cross the road without getting hurt or without the fear of potential danger or accident? You become nothing less than an adventurous person or a risk taker.

The recent times have seen a lot of modernisation in terms of technology, infra-structure, opportunities and of course development. It paved the way for an in-crease in opportunities for employment and investments alike. People started to move to cities for better prospects.

To decongest the roads and help people with safer movement options, a separate walking space for the pedestrians were created. The walking space (bridge) above the roads were known as a skywalk, and the ones below or underground are known as - subways.

We have been constructing a world-class infrastructure for the nation. While the claims are tall, the complaints and challenges of the end users are never-ending. Taking these facts into consideration, Construction Times have decided to start a reality check of the facilities with end users.

For the current issue, we are beginning with the most popular and widely used facility in a city the SUBWAYS. In a crowded metropolis like Mumbai, it is hundreds of people who use the said facility on a day to day basis. However, how usable is the facility no one knows. Once the facility is made, the authorities tend to forget about them. Bad planning, Low maintenance, Hawker Intrusions, the list of complaints are endless. Adding to it is the water logging during monsoon, which makes the Subways completely unusable. That makes us compelled to do this reality check on the usability of the subways in Mumbai City.

Since its initiation, subways have come a long way in terms of its usability as well as its development and design, but gradually what was once a blessing to the pe-destrians have now become more of a bane, resulting in the pedestrians once again returning to the roads above endangering their lives.

Most common problems are the crowding and congestion followed by safety issues, less lighting or no lighting, no maintenance, hawkers are making the subways, losing its popularity fast.

Here are some voices. It represents the cross section of subway users.

”The subways today are too crowded that I feel claustrophobic with no air to breath”, says Sanika Deshmukh, a college student from Mumbai. Sanika is regular Subway user. “ There is too much of pushing and shoving in the crowd that one could get easily stuck in the crowd and be injured or not able to get to his or her destination. It is like some little sibling of a Mumbai local.”

Hawkers and the street side vendors selling small items are other factors resulting in the crowd and congestion. “The subways are already crowded with pedestrians and people using the subway actually to reach somewhere. The space or the area for the subway is narrow or so as the number of pedestrians increases. Contributing to these, are the hawkers, who spread the mats or items they display and take up a lot of space meant for people like us,” she added.

Ancy Johnas, an employee at an office in Churchgate.

“Harassment in the crowd by unknown faces is a bigger problem and also takes an ugly turn if a woman has to use the subway in the 'non-peak' or 'after' hours when the subways become a bit deserted or empty. Pick-pocketing, thievery is also widespread in subways.

"Most subways in Mumbai are not well maintained, maybe because they are one of the least used pathways. I use subways only if there is a need to. Safety needs to addressed as a major concern. Just like in our local trains police presence for women post peak hours has now become a mandate, such measures need to be undertaken to ensure safety to all.”

Yogesh Gadhave

“I often feel the subways in and around railway stations are ill-maintained. Al-ready, we as Indians are quite insensitive with respect to jay-walking. Having a bad subway infrastructure adds to the issue. People are often seen taking the subways only at prime junctions where road crossing is tough, for example, CSMT Station in South Mumbai. Also, hawkers occupying illegally or watery floors during rains and stinking subways push away people from taking the subway route. Many times, not so prime located subways are isolated; this makes them prone to crimes.”

Rutuja Mahadik, Law Student.

“The low lighting and visibility issue add to the troubles. Be it day Or night; the subway is always dim lit or not lit."

Some of the people whom we spoke also pointed out the 'design faults'. During monsoon season, most of the subways are filled with water making it unusable. This, according to the users, is clearly a design fault. A facility which was created for public use should have had clear drainage. Most of the time, the rainwater from the road above runs into the subway below. This water, the users said it should have been redirected to a proper drainage line.

Social evils such as spitting, littering, increasing number of anti-social elements like drunkards, drug paddlers add to the woes. Lack of surveillance by both cameras and the security forces, emergency exits, and lack of awareness during disasters can prove costly to the Subway users.

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