A Quick Guide of Mumbai (Part Deux) (Part II)

A quick recap of P1-:

• History of Mumbai
• Shape of Mumbai
• Different sections of Mumbai
• Accommodation in Mumbai

Now that it is established that you are now established in Mumbai, you're probably wondering about the most neglected aspect of any city - Transportation.

As mentioned earlier, Mumbai is a linear city with an offshoot in the east. It is further divided into 3-4 regions based on regional geography. These regions are connected with the help of -

 

Figure 1: Rail Map of Mumbai

• Locals
• Western Line (Churchgate to Dahanu Road)
• Central Line (CSTM/VT to Karjat/Kasara)
• Harbour Line (CSTM to Panvel/Andheri)
• Trans-Harbour Line (Panvel to Thane)
• Mumbai Metro (Ghatkopar to Versova)
• B.E.S.T. Buses (All over Mumbai and beyond)
• N.M.M.T. and T.M.T. Buses (On Selected Routes)
• Western Expressway (Bandra to Virar)
• Eastern Expressway (Sion to Kalyan)
• Eastern Freeway (CSTM/VT to Chembur [extending to Thane])
• Santacruz - Chembur Link Road (SCLR)
• Jogeshwari - Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR)
• Chembur - Panvel Highway (Panvel is where the Mumbai-Pune Expressway begins)

 Figure 2: Road Map of Mumbai

Courtesy: Maps of India

Let me take each mode in detail.

Mumbai Local

The Mumbai local is an annoyingly indispensable mode of transport in Mumbai. It is the fastest, most reliable and extremely congested method to travel.

The Mumbai Locals are Electric Multiple Units (EMU) which ply on the aforementioned routes at intervals of as close as every 2 minutes! They also have the distinction of transporting over 8 million people a day.

There are 2 types of Locals -:

• Fast Locals - Stop at limited stations but for long duration and are useful when going far away from point of origin. In the right times, they can save you as many as 20 minutes while, in the wrong times, they can be practically crushing to you!
  The Destination and Stops are predetermined and well documented and have a specific timing to it.
  For eg, On Western Line, some locals are from Churchgate to Dahanu, some to Virar, some to Borivali, etc.
  Similarly is the case for Central Line.
  
  Biggest Word of Advice - NEVER EVER TRAVEL IN A VIRAR FAST DURING PEAK HOURS WHEN GOING WITH THE TRAFFIC.
  Yes, remember the words in BOLD. Don't ask why, just remember.
• Slow Locals - Stop at all the stations but for shorter duration and useful to travel short distances or for long distances during peak hours.
  The routes are the same as Fast Locals' but their tracks are different than the Fast Locals' tracks.

Things to remember when traveling via locals-:

1. Peak Hours
1. Morning 0730 to 1030
2. Evening 1730 to 2000
2. Direction of Peak Traffic (refer part 1 of guide).
1. Morning - North to South
2. Evening - South to North
3. Always anticipate when your station is approaching and get up well in time to make your way to the Correct Doors. You don't get an announcement mentioning the side of the coach where the station will arrive. Believe me, you want to be close to your door.
4. If you don't get space to sit, stand in the aisle or at the absolute sides of the doors. 
5. NEVER EVER STAND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PASSAGE.
6. Dadar, Andheri, Kurla, and Thane are EXTREMELY crowded stations and invasion of personal space is all but impertinent :)
7. Ensure you're in the correct compartment. There is a Ist Class (quite expensive than IInd Class), a Handicap Class, Ladies Compartment and Luggage Compartment.
8. On every major stop, ensure you have a valid ticket. Tickets are cheap but the fines for rule violations are quite heavy! You don't really find Ticket Checkers on smaller stops.
9. A Return Ticket is valid till midnight of the Following day. Also, if the ticket was purchased on Saturday, it is valid till Monday Night.
10. Let people get off first, then get in. Don't be fooled by the crowd rushing to get it. They do it for the thrill of it and there is generally enough time to get in or get out of the train.
11. Stuff is really cheap in a train and you can probably find good stuff at times.
12. Last Train is NOT haunted or unsafe to travel in. There are security personnel on board during these hours. Yeah, Mumbai Outskirts might be slightly unsafe though.
13. If you're traveling a lot on that route, get a Pass. Passes are insanely cheap and easy to get. Five Minute process at max.

The peculiar thing about Mumbai Locals is that it is generally immune to inflation and hence ultra cheap [minimum ticket is 5 bucks for a distance of nearly 10 kilometers. Beat that.]
Locals cover a huge part of Mumbai though some others like Versova, Malad, innards of Vashi, Chembur, etc have very little rail coverage.
It makes sense as a newbie to get used to traveling in locals and not shying away because you're too proud, rich, or cool a person to do so.
Lastly, if you live in Southern Mumbai, local travel is quite convenient and hassle-free.

I'll update this post as and when I get the time.
I sincerely hope that you all find it useful and that your stay here is memorable.