The Real Mumbai Metro Miracle: Escaping the daily chaos of Bandra and Kurla with a quiet revoltion beneath Mumbai’s chaos

For a person who has his office at an odd location in Bandra east for the past few years, the Aqua Line 3 Metro has been a blessing. Being a compulsory traveller of mass public transport, the options before me have been the BEST bus and the suburban railways. 

The approaches for me by suburban railway included Kurla west and Bandra east, both in deplorable civic condition, willingly ignored by the authorities. 

Outside Kurla west, the mess, the chaos of hawkers, the hounding of auto drivers have been the norm from where I could earlier get two buses – route 310 or 37 – that usually took me to the Income Tax junction at the BKC.

But with the recent fleet decline and mess up of height issues of double decker buses by BEST undertaking outside Kurla west, the frequency has gone for a toss and the queues have just got longer with no chance of getting the first available bus.

From Kurla station west, I usually took the option of walking all the way till the BKC MTNL office to catch a bus as multiple options are usually available here. Those who understand the  geography of the area will know it why.

At the other end outside Bandra station east, the chaos has been worse with equally hounding auto drivers ready to pounce on you on the foot bridge landing, the broken civic skywalk for a decade, making it difficult to negotiate roads amid traffic chaos with a bus depot entry/exit cutting through the main road traffic and unrelenting encroachments, making it difficult to walk.

The Aqua Line Metro 3 station opening at Income Tax junction at BKC has been a blessing for the single reason is that I don’t have to walk to either Bandra east or Kurla west stations, both consumed by the auto mafia, proliferating encroachments and unpardonable civic negligence. In a few years, the Yellow Line 2B at BKC will further connect eastern and western suburbs like never before as the Aqua Line 3 station presently connects north and south.

The Aqua Line takes me to Marol naka from where I hop on to Blue Line 1 all the way till Ghatkopar. 

Someone tells me it involves changing two metros and all that but if that is the effort I have to take to bypass the hell holes of Kurla west and Bandra east for ever, so be it. The powerful machines on tracks, sanitised travel and peace of mind are an experience to travel in and importantly, they are public transport.

Bouquets & Brickbats welcome.