Mumbai's Monday Mayhem: Traffic Congestion Triples Travel Time, Leaves Commuters Frustrated

Mumbai: G.L. Kumar, left his residence in Malad (W) in his car on Monday at 10.30 a.m. He reached his office in Nariman Point at 2 p.m. He had a similar traumatic experience last Monday too.

He is one of the lakhs of people residing in the western suburbs who face a hellish situation created by massive traffic jam on the Western Express Highway. Normally, on Monday's more cars are taken out by people living in the suburbs to commute to south Mumbai so there are the usual traffic jams.

"But of late the traffic jams have assumed monstrous proportions," a Goregaon resident A. Kulkarni observed. "It is sheer torture driving from my home to Bandra. After that I take the sea link and the coastal road, which is a breeze. But the stretch from Goregaon to Bandra on the WEH is simply horrible," she added.

When contacted by FPJ on Monday, joint commissioner of police (traffic) Anil Kumbhare, said "Work on the Vakola bridge's south-bound lane was delayed due to a breakdown in the hotmix machinery used for road levelling. This caused major disruption this morning. Work on the south-bound stretch will be completed in the next two days, after which work on the northbound stretch will begin next week."

Union minister for commerce Piyush Goyal, who is the M.P. from Mumbai north, had taken up the issue of traffic snarls on WEH with the traffic police, BMC and Metro rail authorities. The officials assured him that the bottlenecks at Kandivli and other spots on the highway would be removed at the earliest. Obviously this has not happened.

A civic official said, on condition of anonymity, that "the western suburbs's vehicle population is very high and this is increasing. The situation will improve, hopefully, once the Aqualine 3 Metro line from Aarey to Cuffe Parade is commissioned. At present the ridership on the stretch between Aarey and BKC is not high. But once it is extended to Worli Naka and then Cuffe Parade the pressure on WEH will ease substasntially."

The city has earned the dubious distinction of having the world’s worst road traffic congestion and ranks as the fifth most crowded city globally. The traffic situation continues to deteriorate, specially in the western suburbs.

Data suggests that commuters in Mumbai spend 53% more travel time than they would under non-congested conditions. A trip that should ideally take 30 minutes often stretches to over 90 minutes or more during peak hours. This congestion has serious long-term implications—not just on citizens' health and productivity but also on the city's overall economy.

In the past few months alone, Mumbai has seen a surge of lakhs numbers new vehicles, worsening the already dire traffic scenario. With more than 2,000 kilometers of roads—over 25% of which are under construction—the city is bursting at the seams. Motorists now routinely spend hours stuck in traffic, draining fuel and energy, and severely impacting day-to-day efficiency.

Eyewitness Quote:

Afrida Ali, journalist residing at Goregaon, described her harrowing Monday commute:

“My travel time tripled this Monday—just like it did last week. Normally, it takes me around an hour to reach Nariman Point from Goregaon West, but today it took three hours. My sister almost missed her Dubai flight despite leaving home three hours early; it still took her over 90 minutes to reach the airport, which should ideally take 45 minutes.

So the question is—how early should one leave for an international flight now? Five hours? Six? It's become a massive hassle."

Ali further highlighted the core issue: “The roads are overcrowded with heavy vehicles, private cars with solo passengers, Ola-Uber cabs, and airport-bound traffic. Local trains are too crowded, so people opt for private transport, which only worsens the congestion. If someone in an ambulance needed urgent hospital care this morning, they might not have made it.”

The traffic police urge citizens to cooperate and plan commutes accordingly, especially on Mondays, as they continue efforts to decongest key choke points. However, unless sustainable transport choices are embraced, Mumbai’s traffic woes may only grow worse.

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