travel on S.V. Road

Today I had the opportunity to travel in an autorickshaw from Andheri to Goregaon via the S.V. Road. A couple of days ago, I had travelled via the JVPD, Link Road and it was madness to say the least. So tried a new route. First of all when I boarded the auto, there was a huge traffic jam from just after the Barfiwala flyover to the Andheri market. That is the biggest bottleneck on this road. They have not managed to increase the width of this road for whatever reasons.

After Andheri market it opens up a little and though there is traffic on the road it is a moving traffic so thank heavens for that. The next bottleneck is near the Jogeshwari station, where again the road narrows down considerably. 

Small bottlenecks again appear near the JVLR flyover signal, Behram Baug signal and the Oshiwara old furniture mart but the traffic is moving albeit slowly. At Oshiwara old furniture market, the goods have come down from the shops and footpath onto the roads without any concern or care for the people or traffic. Even the authorities have turned a blind eye to this rampant illegality going on. 

All in all, much better traffic in S.V. Road than on the Link Road though the initial jam at S.V. Road upto the Andheri market was a nightmare. 

BEST bus no. 262

The BEST should add more services during the morning & evening peak hours on the no. 262 Goregaon Station - Ayyappa Mandir route. I say this because many passengers take the share auto from the end of M.G. Road during this period and even the share autos are not available most of the times, so a big queue is formed there also. So this is a good opportunity for BEST to capture that market of short distance passengers to Goregaon station. I would suggest to keep one bus every 15 minutes starting from 7.30 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. in the morning and from 4.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. In the evening also there is a huge shortage of auto rickshaws from the Goregoan station to Link Road, so this service could be very beneficial for the people plus it will also get some good business for BEST. They will get passengers from Bangur Nagar, Motilal Nagar, and all along M.G. Road. BEST needs to be innovative to get more business in view of the fact that their power division is not subsidising their transport division anymore and their huge losses. Rickshaws will lose business but who the hell cares for them considering their blatant refusals to ply passengers except to their favoured destinations.