Every second person in Mumbai has used public transport, but it is the first preference of only 12% of commuters in the city.

These are some of the findings of the Ease Of Moving Index created by the Ola Mobility Institute. The findings, which are based on a survey of 43,000 respondents across 20 Indian cities, were released this week in Delhi. While Kolkata topped the list, Mumbai secured the lowest overall score among the six metros.

‘Unreliable’

According to the report, most Mumbaikars, given a choice, prefer taxis and cabs over rickshaws and personal vehicles. More than half the respondents admitted to using public transport and almost 75% of them found it to be time saving and/or cost effective. Mumbai ranked second on accessibility of public transport, with some form of it being available within a 10-minute walk.

However, 70% of the respondents felt public transport was unreliable and 44% said they had to wait up to 15 minutes for a bus.

A little over half the public transport users in the survey were women. About 72% of the women said they usually felt safe using public transport, but had concerns during night hours. The survey suggested shared mobility services during non-operational hours of public transport as a solution to provide a safe travelling experience for women. Shared transport seemed to be popular in the city with 30% respondents claiming to access public transport through shared autorickshaws. According to the survey, 40% of the bookings on the Ola app in the city are for shared rides.

‘Road safety hazard’

The condition of the roads was one of the major areas of concern for Mumbaikars. The survey found that Mumbai has a significantly higher number of potholes and bumps compared with the other metros. Around 68% of the respondents called potholes and bumps in the city a ‘road safety hazard’.

‘Dangerous for cycling’

While 30% expressed concern over the width of city roads, 43% said they had to face congestion throughout the day. The survey noted that the number of vehicles had risen by almost 50% from 20 lakh to 32 lakh over the past five years, while the road length remained more or less the same at around 2,000 km.

A majority of respondents found cycling in the city dangerous and sought segregated footpaths and cycle tracks. In all, over 70% respondents felt Mumbai had to improve its first and last mile connectivity.