Maharashtra: Out of a hole and into a pod taxi?

The ‘pod taxi project’ between Kurla and BKC (Bandra-Kurla Complex), mooted in March and approved by the Cabinet in September, has run into a wall of public cynicism — and rightly so. What was this plan, Mumbai residents fumed, if it wasn’t a jumla before the Assembly elections (which could take place at any time, as the current Assembly term ends in November).

The BKC business district attracts 4-6 lakh footfalls every day, but is severely underserved by BEST buses and auto-rickshaws. The nearest suburban stations are Bandra and Kurla, which are only 2-3 km away in distance, but take between 30-40 minutes to travel during peak hours.

If office workers are lucky enough to fit into a shared auto-rickshaw, they pay Rs 30-40 per person. Ola and Uber taxis charge between Rs 80 and Rs 100 for the same distance. The ‘auto-rickshaw mafia’, in collaboration with the police, often charges even more. Walking on potholed roads and broken pavements is nerve-wracking and takes more than 30 minutes each way. So, what are people to do?

Now that city planners have bypassed BKC when it comes to metro lines, one suggestion has been that companies run free shuttle buses for their employees. They could pool resources and divert some of their CSR (corporate social responsibility) funds to smaller buses that seat 36 at a time. While some can afford to take the app-based, air-conditioned Cityflo buses — from the western and eastern suburbs and Navi Mumbai to BKC — for most, the daily commute is a nightmare.

So are pod taxis the panacea? The perfect solution with fares starting at $21 per person? That’s what the announcement from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) seemed to suggest, but people aren’t jumping for joy.

After the failed monorail project, MMRDA is starting a new Rs 10 billion plus project in BKC called Pod Taxis to reach Bandra and Kurla stations.
This is a phenomenal waste of tax money. As someone who goes to BKC often, here are my two paisa suggestions:
– To have… photo.twitter.com/2CwxX27jSN

— Smita Deshmukh (@smitadeshmukh) September 6, 2024

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Self-driving electric vehicles on an elevated track, pod taxis operate at Dubai, Singapore and Heathrow airports. Heathrow’s pod taxis, operational since 2011, are used to transport business class passengers from the parking lot to the terminal, a distance of 3.8 km. Media reports in May 2023 claimed that India’s first pod taxis would connect Noida International Airport in Jewar (still under construction) to Noida’s Film City, a distance of 14.1 km. While the project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2024, its current status is unknown.

While Sanjay Mukherjee, metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA, raved about the pod taxi project that connects 8.8 km in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) with 38 stations along the route, the reaction from Mumbaikars was frosty. “It’s like using a vacuum cleaner to clean the streets of Mumbai,” one quipped, while another commuter wondered how different the pod taxi would be from an auto-rickshaw. The only difference, said another, were “shiny glass cabins and an elevated corridor”. Why not use the corridor for electric buses that can carry 35 people at a time, he wondered.

Few seem to believe that the project will even get off the ground. Some are disappointed that it will take at least three years to get it up and running. Others are traumatized by the thought of digging up already congested roads. Wouldn’t a quicker and more cost-effective solution be to improve existing roads, add more BEST bus routes, have better police at car parks and make the pavements passable?

As frustrated commuters vented their frustrations, more mathematically inclined travelers turned to quick calculations. With each pod carrying six passengers and pods turning every 15 seconds, four pods could transport 24 passengers per minute. So it would take an hour to transport 1,440 passengers.

Imagine how frustrated people must be with BKC Travel that they have now started looking for the company that won the 1000+crore Pod Taxi project. People are trying to point out that maybe it is just another failed project.

Citizens want real and effective solutions for… photo.twitter.com/n9cMMuFHrK

— Jeet Mashru (@mashrujeet) September 8, 2024

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With a peak hour that lasts until 4am every morning and evening, a continuous pod taxi service would only be able to carry 5,840 passengers on a single track. The number would be twice as high if two tracks were used, one from Bandra and the other from Kurla. How, they ask, is that going to help the six lakh passengers who visit BKC daily? They might as well drain the ocean one teaspoon at a time.

Eyebrows were also raised because Sai Green Mobility Pvt. Ltd, the Hyderabad-based company that won the Rs 1,016-crore contract, was incorporated barely six months ago, on March 14, 2024. How could a company with an authorised capital of Rs 10 crore and a paid-up capital of just Rs 1 lakh get a contract worth a thousand crore?

MMRDA defends their choice by citing that Sai Green’s technology partner M/S Ultra PRT has a proven track record in running the operational system at Heathrow Airport. They also claim to have conducted a technical feasibility study reviewed by Tata Consulting Engineers which recommended pod taxis after taking into account the topography of the region and the expected growth in traffic.

The metropolitan commissioner’s statement said, “This project will revolutionise last-mile connectivity within BKC and cater to the needs of the 4 to 6 lakh commuters travelling to and from the CBD daily. With the expected increase in footfall due to upcoming infrastructure developments such as high-speed rail and new commercial buildings, the need for efficient last-mile connectivity has become paramount.”

The project based on a public-private partnership (PPP) model envisages a construction period of three years and a concession period of 30 years. The model includes provisions for a fixed concession fee and a percentage of revenue sharing with MMRDA. “We believe that the pod taxi project in BKC is a significant step towards improving urban mobility in one of the busiest business districts of Mumbai,” Mukherjee’s statement added.

The approval for the pod taxi project is one of the many vanity projects that the Mahayuti government has rushed to approve before the elections. Mumbaikars believe that neither the Mahayuti government nor the MMRDA is serious about pod taxis, which already look impractical. They feel that if the BJP coalition wins, they will find a reason to scrap the project. And if it loses, well, it is no longer their problem.

Urban planning experts believe that the pod taxi project will end up as badly as the monorail project in Mumbai. The MMRDA monorail between Chembur and Mahalaxmi has suffered a loss of Rs 500 crore. The country’s first monorail not only failed to attract passengers due to its ‘wrong route’ but also failed to attract tourists and visitors to the city!

Akshay Rautela, co-founder of Delhi-based Instaspaces, was quoted in Afternoon claim that only five percent of commuters to BKC could afford the expected fare of pod taxis. This number would decrease further if people had to wait longer than 15 seconds for the next pod, he added.

Another expert, KK Tinguru, was similarly pessimistic. Skywalks, buses, cycle paths — none of these have helped to minimise congestion in this ‘maximum city’. This, he felt, was probably just another waste of government money.

BKC is considered the most expensive commercial hub in the country and is still growing. The terminus of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train is also supposed to come up here. Government agencies have not held transparent public consultations. With elections to local bodies, including the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), pending for the past two and a half years, the bureaucracy has had a holiday without asking questions.

A former councillor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was no doubt that the pod taxi project was a scheme promoted with an eye to the elections. If the government had been serious about social issues, he said, it would have paid more attention to the crumbling infrastructure, mounting traffic congestion, potholed roads and bursting local trains.