Transport in Mumbai

Sea-links

As of 2024, Mumbai currently has 4 major operational or under-construction sea-links:

The Bandra–Worli Sea Link bridge is one of the longest bridges in the country, opened in 2009. It connects the suburbs of Bandra and Worli, and carries around 32,000 vehicles daily as of 2018.^[3]

The Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (officially the Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sewri-Nhava Sheva Atal Setu) is the longest bridge in India. It was opened on 12 January 2024, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the bridge. It connects Mumbai with Navi Mumbai and is 21.8 kilometers in length. The bridge runs between the localities of Sewri in South Mumbai to Ulwe of Navi Mumbai.^[4][5]

The Coastal Road (officially the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Coastal Motorway) is an 8-lane, 29.2 km long expressway that runs along Mumbai's western coastline. It will connect the locality of Marine Lines in the south to Mumbai and Kandivali in the North. It is projected to be used by 130,000 vehicles daily and reduces travel time between South Mumbai and the Western Suburbs from 2 hours to 40 minutes. Its first phase was inaugurated on 11 March 2024.^[6] Its second phase was inaugurated on June 10, 2024.^[7] On January 26, 2025 (Republic Day), the northbound bridge connecting with the Bandra Worli Sea link was inaugurated.^[8] On August 14, 2025, Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated a 5 km promenade stretching from Priyadarshini Park to Worli sea face as a public recreation ground.^[9] After that, a melody road was inaugurated, playing the song Jai Ho,^[10] Finishing the Mumbai Coastal Road project.

The Versova–Bandra Sea Link, which is going to be inaugurated in 2027, and will also connect Versova, Andheri to the Bandra Worli Sea Link and also to the coastal road as well as run along Mumbai's coastline from Versova and Juhu. It will reduce travel time and traffic jams along Swami Vivekananda Road and Milan Subway bridge, as well as the removal of 1.799 mangroves^[11]

Bus

• Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) has a fleet of single and electric double decker buses. BEST runs their buses in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, and Mira-Bhayandar
• Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) operates air-conditioned Volvo buses from Navi Mumbai to Bandra, Dadar, Mantralaya & Borivali and non-A/C buses from Navi Mumbai to Mulund, Kurla, Dadar, Andheri, Dindoshi & Mantralaya.
• Thane Municipal Transport (TMT) operates buses from Thane to Navi Mumbai, Borivali, Mira-Bhayandar and BKC.
• Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Transport (KDMT) operate buses from Kalyan-Dombivli to Navi Mumbai, Panvel and Ulhasnagar.
• Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Transport (MBMT) operates buses from Mira-Bhayandar to Vasai-Virar, Thane and Borivali.
• Vasai-Virar Municipal Transport (VVMT) operate buses from Vasai-Virar to Thane, Mira-Bhayandar.

Taxis

Taxis arrived in 1911 to complement horse cars. Black and yellow Fiat taxis are an integral part of the city's heritage and have been depicted in numerous Bollywood movies. Metered taxis ply throughout Mumbai and have a monopoly from Bandra to Churchgate on the Western line, and from Sion to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus on the Central line. Beyond Sion and Bandra, auto rickshaws are not allowed, and one has to hire a taxi. However, between Sion to Thane and Bandra to Bhayandar, both taxis and autorickshaws are available to transport passengers. In the suburbs of Mumbai, however, metered taxicabs mostly reject passengers wanting to travel between suburbs and in this cases one has to catch an auto rickshaw.

• Silver-Green taxis run by Meru, and Yellow-Red by Gold cabs, and Black by Mega Cabs.
• White AC cabs run by Ola, Uber, and other ride-sharing apps.
• Blue and silver air-conditioned metered taxis known as "Cool Cabs,"
• Tourist car operators in Mumbai use many cars like Maruti Wagon R, Toyota Innova, Hyundai i10, Maruti Alto, Maruti DZiRE, Maruti Baleno, and Tata Tiago
• Some private taxi operators provide yellow number plate cars for transportation

Mumbai is served by four inter—city highways: Old Mumbai-Pune Highway, Mumbai Pune Expressway, Mumbai Kannyakumari Highway and Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway.

Mumbai is also served by many expressways like Mumbai–Pune Expressway, Mumbai Nagpur Expressway, Mumbai Ahmedabad expressway and Bengaluru Mumbai expressway

Rickshaws

Auto rickshaws play an important role in public transport in Mumbai. There are 246,458 black-and-yellow metered auto rickshaws, often simply called autos, rickshaws, or simply ricks, in the Mumbai MMR as of 2008.^[12] Since 2002, all auto rickshaws have been required to use CNG as fuel.^[19] However, not all rickshaws comply. In some areas, if a CNG filling facility is not available, the fuel is either petrol or LPG.

Auto rickshaws are not permitted to enter Old Bombay (South Mumbai) . The southernmost points accessible to them are Bandra Fire Station in Western Mumbai and Sion Bus Depot in Central Mumbai, and Rani Laxmibai Chowk in Sion, Mumbai. Auto rickshaws registered in Mumbai are not allowed travel beyond the municipal limits. They have been allowed to travel between Sion to Mulund in the Central Suburbs and up to Mankhurd on the Harbour line. People who wish to travel beyond Mumbai to suburbs like Vashi,and Airoli have to catch a suburban rickshaw. In the western suburbs, they are allowed to travel between Bandra and Bhayandar only.

A mechanical meter decides the fare, which is proportional to distance traveled. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Transport Authority (MMRTA) updated the auto-rickshaw fares and declared a hike recently, which is applied from 1 March 2021.^[20] The regulation for auto rickshaws is similar to taxis, and methods of complaining against the auto rickshaws and taxis are available on the Mumbai RTO website.^[21]

Survey

In 2021, UK-based car-sharing company Hiyacar announced in a survey that Mumbai is the most stressful city in the world for driving.^[22] Public transportation options are one of the main factors that were observed for the survey.^[23]

National Highways

The city of Mumbai, the financial capital of India and the capital of Maharashtra state, is a critical node in the country's national highway network. These highways facilitate inter-state connectivity and link the Mumbai Metropolitan Region with many cities in India like Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, and Delhi. National Highway 48 Starts from the Western Express Highway at Mira Road, and after the Teen Hath Naka Junction at Thane, it continues from the Eastern Express Highway to Pune, and from which it reaches Chennai. It connects Mumbai to Bengaluru. National Highway 160 connects Thane, near Mumbai to Sankeshwar, in Karnataka. National Highway 66 connects Panvel, near Mumbai, to Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu. It starts at Kalamboli circle from which NH 48 and Mumbai Pune Expressway continue and NH 66 starts from here. Here is where the Sion-Panvel highway ends. Old National Highway 6 connected Mumbai to Kolkata, until it was removed after the massive renumbering in 2010. Mumbai-Agra Highway connected Mumbai and Agra from Thane.^[24]

Mumbai Suburban Railway

The Mumbai Suburban Railway is the oldest commuter rail in Asia, founded in 1853.^[25] It is owned by Indian Railways and operated by its Western Railways and Central Railways divisions. Most economical transport subsidized by the government of India via Railway ministry. With a length of 430 km, it has highest passenger density in the world, 7.5 million people daily, more than half of daily capacity of Indian Railways.^[26] It has four radial lines:

• Western, running between Churchgate and Dahanu Road
• Central, running between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Kasara/Khopoli
• Harbour, running between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Panvel/Goregaon
• Trans-Harbour, running between Thane and Vashi/Nerul
• Port, running between Uran and Nerul/CBD Belapur
• Vasai Road–Roha line, running between Vasai Road/Diva Junction and Panvel/Roha

Mumbai railways offer first class commuter transport. First class fares are approximately 10 times the second class fare which is ₹10 or ₹15^[27] whearas First class costs ₹100 to ₹145 and tend to be less crowded in the non-rush hour period. First class compartments also have slightly better seats than second class. While less crowded during non-peak hours, the first class compartments are rather more crowded during the peak hour time, as there is a large supply and demand gap. It is notoriously hard to get into the first class compartment as the coach is overcrowded with people hanging out of the doors.

Since 2017, Mumbai Suburban Rail became the first in India to operate Air-Conditioned rakes in its Western and Central line. These rakes are equipped with automatic doors and are vestibuled in a 12-coach configuration with coaches 1 to 6 vestibuled, motor connection between coaches 6 and 7 and coaches 7 to 12 again vestibuled. There are also women-only cars (termed 'ladies'),^[27] and since 1992, 'Ladies Special' trains with all coaches reserved for women passengers.^[28]

Metro

In January 2004, a master transit plan was unveiled by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). The plan integrated a 146 kilometer-long metro system, of which 32 km would be underground.

In June 2004, government approval was given for a 12-station elevated line between Ghatkopar and Versova. In June 2006, the first phase of the Mumbai Metro project was inaugurated. Construction work began in February 2008.^[29][30][31] A successful trial run was conducted in May 2013, and the system's first line entered operation in June 2014,^[32][33][34] although some aspects of the project were afflicted by delays and cost issues.^{[30][35][36][37]} The Mumbai Metro opened on 8 June 2014. On 2 April 2022, Metro line 2A and 7 were inaugurated, these two lines have a combined length of 19,25 km and will reduce the traffic congestion in North Mumbai. The first line of the Navi Mumbai Metro was inaugurated on 17 November 2023.^[38] The Mumbai Metro Aqua Line was inaugurated in October 2025 by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi.

Many more lines are under-construction or planned having a total length of 345 km (215 mi), which includes new lines in the Navi Mumbai Metro and the Thane Metro, which is to be developed independently of the rest of the Mumbai Metro system.^[39][40] The Green Line 4 is also under construction, from Thane to Wadala, as well as an extension (Metro Line 4A) Kasarvadavali to Gaimukh, as well as Mumbai Metro Line 11 to Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus from Wadala.

Monorail

The Mumbai Monorail is a monorail system for the city of Mumbai. Construction began in January 2009 and the first operational line was inaugurated on 1 February 2014.^[41][42] It is being contracted by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and is the first monorail in India.^[43]

Four lines were proposed. The first two are 25 kilometres (16 mi) long. Out of the two, Line 1 was opened to the public in 2014.

• Initial plans were to build a line running from Malabar Hill to the Bandra-Kurla complex via the Haji Ali Dargah, Jacob Circle, Wadala Road, Sion Hospital and Dharavi. This was planned to have been opened by 2011.
• A line from Thane to Bhiwandi via Kalyan was proposed. A consultant's report to government has recommended that this corridor be served instead by a road-based system for the next 10–15 years using buses and bus rapid transit.^[44]

Two lines 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) long were to be constructed after the first two have opened.

• Chembur to Jacob Circle via Mahul. This route is planned to have been opened by December 2010.^[45] (May get extended to Vashi, Navi Mumbai.)
• Lokhandwala Complex to Kanjur Marg via Oshiwara.

Additionally, previously planned Mumbai Metro corridors are also being examined to be made as monorail corridors instead of the metro by MMRDA due to the dense and congested areas these corridors pass through. The corridors are:

• Hutatma Chowk – Ghatkopar – 21.8 km
• Ghatkopar – Mulund – 12.4 km

Bullet Train

The 650 km Mumbai-Ahemdabad Bullet train project is another major high-speed rail project that is supposed to run between Mumbai and Ahmedabad is poised to revolutionize travel time between these two major cities which usually would take about 7 to 8 hours to a meager 2hrs 57mins. This would create demand for real estate in key areas such as Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli and Vasai-Virar.^[46]

International connections

There are plans to build an underwater rail tunnel linking Dubai with Mumbai, from the Bombay Port Trust (Ferry Wharf) to Jebel Ali Port in Dubai, however, these plans have stopped due to the USA- Iran war and UAE has missiles from the USA attacking them.^[47][48]

Trams

Trams were an important form of transport until the mid-1960s. They were introduced in the late 19th century and in their heyday, covered many areas of the city. At their peak, route length grew to more than 47 kilometers. The system closed down in 1964.^[49]

Bus

Mumbai has intercity bus connections with MSRTC (Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation). MSRTC runs intercity busses from the city to various parts of Maharashtra. It operates ordinary seater bus services, semi-luxury sleeper busses, and luxury air conditioned sleeper busses under the brand names '"Shivneri", "Shivshahi", and "Ashwamedh". Apart from MSRTC, KSRTC operates from Mumbai to Bengaluru. There are also many private bus operators with AC and Non-AC intercity busses from Mumbai to various cities in India.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA)

Air-based intercity and international travel is primarily routed through Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (IATA: BOM). As one of the busiest aviation gateways in South Asia by passenger volume, CSMIA functions via a geographically separated dual-terminal model. Terminal 1, located in Santacruz, handles domestic low-cost carriers, while Terminal 2 in Sahar processes all international flights and full-service domestic operations. Due to a fixed urban footprint, the airport relies on two intersecting runways, meaning only one runway can operate at any given moment, effectively capping its peak flight handling and hourly movement capacity.

Navi Mumbai DB Patil International Airport (NMIA)

To alleviate severe capacity constraints and traffic bottlenecks at CSMIA, the greenfield Navi Mumbai International Airport was constructed in Ulwe by CIDCO and Adani Airport Holdings. Operating with an initial processing capacity of 20 million passengers per annum via its primary terminal and single-runway phase, the airport infrastructure accommodates growing regional and domestic flight demand across the broader metropolitan area.