Steps for change: How this Mumbai community highlights civic issues of pedestrians

Amid the many fitness challenges surfacing online the one that never dies is taking 30000 steps daily for a week for better health fitness and sleep While that would roughly amount to a 24km walk our walk last Sunday began with baby steps aimed to cover a distance of 23 km along the NM Joshi Marg from Byculla Station to Lower Parel The organisers were Walking Project mdash a community that aims to create a safe convenient and enjoyable walking experience across MMR Mumbai Metropolitan Region Greater MumbaiLeft right Kalpana Grain Store and Ramdas Newspaper Stall PicsDevanshi Doshi Rishi AggarwalWhen we reached Byculla railway station at 830 am Vedant Mhatre their 25yearold programme manager is checking the AQI levels using his device ldquoItrsquos 58rdquo he notes delightfully ldquoSomehow whenever I take this device out the readings are always satisfactoryrdquo We are joined by a 24yearold corporate lawyer a tech journalist and the founder of the community Rishi Aggarwal who gives us a badge that reads lsquoI love walkingrsquo that we tag on our tees and wersquore offFounded in 2012 by Aggarwal the community was initially involved only with corporators officials and BMC to improve the walkability in the city In May of 2023 Mhatre and Aggarwal restarted the project that was temporarily discontinued in 2017 this time with a new goal to directly involve the pedestrians and gain community support towards their cause of making Mumbai walkable againLeft Rishi Aggarwal right Vedant MhatreThis is their 14th walk Mhatre is the data custodian who has databacked information on existing and nonexisting pedestrian infrastructure and civic challenges He draws parallels between their previous walks infrastructure abroad and the footpath that we are using He has access to thousands of images and maps saved in a tablet ldquoIt helps to interact with participants when I draw comparisonsrdquo he explains Aggarwal on the other hand is the storyteller He digs up political and civic anecdotes from the past and seamlessly joins the dots with Mhatrersquos data With the corporate lawyer and technology journalist the walk is informationpacked and yet a lighthearted experienceObservations and readings1 Byculla Station Despite having enough space for a dropoff zone right at the station it is made inaccessible due to probable clogging of buses and private vehicles This leads to fourwheelers halting outside the station instead thereby affecting traffic as well as pedestrian movement Aggarwal and Mhatre note that this stretch is a commentary on how we utilise surrounding areas2 Footpaths In the British era footpaths were kept wide on each side Sadly the city has more than halved and cut these and the bits left are now occupied by hawkers ldquoWe are not against hawkersrdquo Mhatre explains ldquoWe think that they bring life to the roadsrdquo However due to roads getting narrower there is little space for pedestrians Footpaths outside the station were comparatively more walkable as they are wide on most parts a sevenmeter wide footpath is recommended for a 21m wide street in a citylevel commercial street high street or shopping street We also pass by Kalpana Grain Store a 90yearold grocery shop and Ramdas Newspaper Stall a 50yearold newspaper stall on the footpaths the latter has been given a notice citing a redevelopment projectPerpendicular parking of cars is illegal and takes up space for walking3 Parking Locations where footpaths were narrowed down or nonexistent were taken up by cars parked in a perpendicular fashion ldquoCars must be parked parallel to the footpaths if at all Plus unlike hawkers they bring no usability to the pedestriansrdquo the duo said ldquoDid you know that 70 per cent of the population doesnrsquot own a vehicle Yet most of the cityrsquos roads are planned keeping in mind the minority that owns onerdquo reveals MhatreA stairway that opens to Chinchpokli Station Bridge4 Desire line The NM Joshi Mark allows a flight of stairs to open to the Chinchpokli Station Bridge which the duo says is a good use of what they call a Desire Line A desire line is a space that pedestrians will use to walk on to avoid taking a roundabout irrespective of whether the BMC makes it pleasant to walk on Walkthrough plazas can also be incorporated into the designDelisle Bridge doesnrsquot have provisions for pedestrians to walk5 Delisle Bridge This bridge that opened in 2023 does not provide footpaths that connect pedestrians to the station unlike the previous avatar of this bridge causing pedestrians to have to take the route under it A narrow makeshift footpath made by few barricades on one side of the bridge is also likely to disappear making the bridge all the more inaccessible or dangerous for pedestriansA junction cross makes crossing the road safer for pedestrians6 Junction cross Junction crosses visually make the roads look crammed causing cars to slow down at the signal while also making the roads easier to cross While Byculla has one such junction cross a better one exists at Nana Chowk Another one once existed near CSMT station but was taken down because of its impact on the traffic7 Tactile paving There is no tactile paving along the roads and the station making it difficult for a visuallyimpaired person to negotiateOn Every SundayLog on to walkingprojectindia for upcoming walks and reportsFree