DECEMBER 23: Space and time, the two most precious commodities in Mumbai have just become dearer, as approximately 85 lakh surface commuters in the city are discovering to their horror.

Commuting by road in most areas has started taking up almost double the time that it used to till about two months ago. Experts blame this primarily on the ongoing repair, reconstruction work as well as the space annexed by the various fly-overs being constructed. At present, 23 major arterial roads and several smaller bylanes have been dug-up by the BMC for repair work which leads the commuters hardly any space to negotiate and results in major traffic-jams. The worst-hit areas include: Dadar, Mahim, Thakkar Bappa Colony at Chembur, Sodawalla Lane, Borivli, Haji Ali, TPS Road, Kurla.These days it takes more than three hours to commute from Churchgate to Borivli by taxi, while this time is halved if the roads are not dug-up,'' says A L Quadros of the Bombay Taximen Union. He says taximen have been the worst affected by the current status of most roads. ``We are out there virtually the entire day, we do not have space to park our taxis, the wear and tear of the vehicle has gone up, as have minor accident, and of course the mental and physical stress that the drivers have to undergo, '' he complained.

The unending nightmare of commuting by surface transport has had some dramatic ramifications. According to a report prepared by the BEST undertaking, the number of people travelling by buses has gone down by about four lakh per year in the last ten years. Admits M A Shanbag, the BEST additional general manager, ``The current road conditions has led to a reduction in the average speeds of BEST buses and other vehicles. A bus which ran approximately at a speed of 18 to 20 kmph six years ago, now runs at an average speed of 12 kmph.'' Compounding the commuters' travail is the fact that while the vehicular population is increasing by 10 per cent each year (see box), the total length of roads in the city is still 1,600 km. Planning authorities do not see any scope for constructing new roads, except fly-overs. But construction of flyovers brings its own set of problems. The pace of traffic has slowed down considerably though work has begun only on 9 of the 50 proposed flyovers. The situation is likely to get only worse once work on more flyovers commences. The suburban railway which carries approximately 90 lakh passengers daily has been the worst hit due to the traffic snarls and the increasing reluctance of the Mumbaikars to take to the road. Commuters beyond Bandra up to Virar have increased at least 20 times in the last one decade. PSI Vinay Rode from the Planning Department at the Traffic Police headquarters says, "If a road is dug the working of traffic lights gets affected which in turn, leads to jams.'' But he shrugs philosophically, ``Concretisation has long-term benefits and we have to bear with the inconvenience caused now.'' For harried commuters, caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic for hours on end, it's a small consolation. ``I'm sure once roads are concretised, the MTNL or BMC will find some other excuse to dig up the roads,'' says Mahesh Ramachandran who commutes from Bandra to VT every day.