Urban transport is increasingly becoming important in a country like India, where urbanization is on the rise, and the growth of urban areas is to some extent determined by the prevalence of good city transport. It is, therefore, necessary for cities to formulate urban transport strategies so that they can continue to provide support to the increasing population. The study reviews the experience of such strategic directions by Mumbai, one of the oldest and largest cities in India. The paper also reviews the past studies, and examines the strategic options and their use in terms of both current practices and critical shortcomings, so that other cities can benefit from such excercise. The study concludes that the best approach to city transport involves (a) using demand and traffic management; (b) integration of all major modes of transportation (c) establishing appropriate institutional mechanisms; (d) formulating policies that give priority to public transport and ensure its improvement; and (e) strengthening transport infrastructure.

Urban transport is increasingly becoming important in India, especially when the country is transforming from a predominantly rural to urban society with about 30% of its total population is now urban according to Census (2001). Although, there has been a slow pace of urbanization at less than 3% in the last decade when compared to a steady growth rate of more than 3% in the previous three decades, in absolute terms the urban population continued to grow and accompanying such urbanization is the rapid expansion of population in metropolitan cities (3i Network 2006). According to Census 2001, the share of metropolitan population in the total urban population has reached 39%, necessitating better management of metropolitan cities in the areas of infrastructure. Mumbai is one such important metropolitan city of the country with a long history of development and transport.

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