Along Dadar’s Chhabildas Road, the footpaths always seem to be bursting at the seams, not with pedestrians but with vendors who sell anything from bags to bangles to flowers and fruits. Even garbage from nearby shops pile up in some areas. With no space left for pedestrians, passengers who alight from the nearby Dadar railway station are forced on to the road, where they negotiate for space amid heavy flow of vehicles.
The chaotic pedestrian experience outside the busy railway station is not an anomaly.
Taking cognisance of pedestrians’ woes, the Bombay High Court earlier this year pulled up civic authorities and the traffic police department over unlawful parking and encroachments on footpaths, saying they make the lives of pedestrians miserable.
How footpaths evolved
Mumbai has about 4,000 kilometres of footpaths, according to the BMC. Their origins date back to the 1880s, when the first dedicated walking spaces were laid along roads in the Fort area, following European planning models. During the time, massive infrastructure works were initiated and the Fort walls were pulled down. As construction of wide arch drains were undertaken beneath the roads, it also necessitated the development of roads, according to Pankaj Joshi, principal director of Urban Centre Mumbai.
“In the colonial times, about 80 to 85 per cent of trips were made on foot as private vehicles or even public transport were uncommon. The British administration was emulating the European model across all major colonial cities where a larger space of footpaths were dedicated for pedestrians”, he added.
As Mumbai’s population grew, planners extended the city northwards through schemes such as Dadar Matunga Sion. In the book Bombay The Cities Within, Sharada Dwivedi and Rahul Mehrotra note that large scale construction in Dadar and Matunga took place between the 1910s and 1930s, followed by planned neighbourhoods in suburbs such as Bandra, Khar, Juhu, Vile Parle, Santacruz, Versova, Chembur and Andheri during the 1930s.
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Joshi said this emphasis on pedestrian infrastructure began to weaken after the 1960s. “Until the 1950s, all the suburban schemes had wide footpaths such as in Shivaji Park, Parsi Colony, Five Gardens or even Marine Drive in island city. However, after the 1960s, the footpaths started becoming narrower. This worsened further in the 1980s and 1990s as the width of the footpaths kept on receding through the decades,” he said, adding that the suburbs are now bearing the brunt of this shift.
What ails footpaths
A global study by Compare the Market published earlier this year ranked Mumbai among the world’s 10 least walkable cities, alongside Johannesburg Manila Bangkok and Cape Town.
For residents, encroachments have emerged as the biggest obstacle to walking. In its 2016 Comprehensive Mobility Plan for Greater Mumbai, the BMC noted that permanent and semi-permanent structures located along edges of the streets, haphazard parking of vehicles in the absence of footpath and lack of designated hawking areas, especially around stations, were key factors discouraging pedestrians from using footpaths.
Vedant Mhatre of Walking Project, a city-based organisation mapping Mumbai’s footpaths, pointed to similar issues. “We have found that hawkers and parked vehicles occupy walking space significantly. Unfortunately, we have not been able to implement policies like the Street Vendors Act and the Parking Authority proposals which would provide a solution to the problem,” said Mhatre.
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Flagging poor quality control, Mhatre said that even a newly developed footpath is hampered within a year. “Instead of simply resurfacing, we also need a dedicated expenditure for developing proper street designs,” he said.
Architects have also highlighted the lack of uniformity, with footpath surfaces often changing every 50 to 100 metres. While the Indian Road Congress lays down standards on footpath height, width, tactile paving and bollards, policymakers say implementation on the ground faces multiple challenges, including resistance from housing societies to legacy structures.
Despite these, walkability remains a low priority in Mumbai’s urban planning. Less than one per cent of the projected budget in the city’s Traffic and Transport Infrastructure Plan up to 2034 has been earmarked for foot overbridges subways and cycle tracks under the Comprehensive Mobility Plan.
Addressing concerns
To meet growing demands for better footpaths, the BMC in its 2025-26 budget earmarked Rs 100 crore for its “Pedestrian First” plan.
In November, the civic body floated tenders to remodel 16.5 km of footpaths across the city under a pilot project. Small stretches at 14 high footfall locations will be upgraded as model footpaths in line with the Universal Footpath Policy, aimed at setting a broader roadmap for pedestrian infrastructure.
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Of the 14 locations, 6.4 km across four sites are in the island city, followed by 5.96 km across five areas in the eastern suburbs and 4.19 km across five locations in the western suburbs.
According to BMC officials, the upgrades will include paving around trees, provision of benches and removal of encroachments. The civic body is also pursuing localised projects for pedestrians. In Kala Ghoda, work is underway to beautify five internal streets with the aim of eventually making them pedestrian only, with a second phase covering five more roads already approved.
The BMC has made similar attempts in the past as well. In 2016, it floated its first Pedestrian First policy, which focused on removing encroachments and standardising footpath design. A year later, a circular directed assistant commissioners of Mumbai’s 24 wards to identify and repair footpaths along major arterial roads in line with this policy.
The demands
Citizens across Mumbai say pedestrian infrastructure must be treated as a priority issue ahead of the civic polls.
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Mandeep Singh Makkar, founder of the Chandivali Citizens Welfare Association, said that the pedestrian policy of BMC exists only on paper. “Day by day, the quality of walkability is only deteriorating as the footpaths are either encroached or have garbage lying around. We have been demanding for a safe walking space in manifestoes, even ahead of Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls. It is our number one demand as this does not even require massive funding, but mere implementation of law and order.”
In South Mumbai’s A ward, which sees a large floating population due to Churchgate and CSMT stations, Atul Kumar, president of the Nariman Point Churchgate Citizens Association, said the area needs special attention despite its legacy infrastructure.
“At least a million people enter and exit through these two stations and head towards the business quarters of Nariman Point Ballard Estate Fort and Cuffe Parade on foot. Therefore, prioritising and finding solutions for better footpaths requires special attention as an election issue in A ward. Implementation of policies like the Town Vending Committee will play a key role in ensuring the walkability as well as balancing commercial pressure of hawkers in the area,” Kumar told The Indian Express.
According to architect Pankaj Joshi, pedestrian infrastructure should find a place in party manifestos. “Designing and implementing engineered footpaths should be incorporated into the manifestos of all political parties. Footpaths can be developed for a fraction of money, which is spent on big ticket infrastructure projects,” he said.
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Referring to Urban Centre Mumbai’s pilot projects near locations such as Ruia College and NGMA, Joshi said that when designed properly, footpaths can last decades without requiring repeated resurfacing.
Vedant Mhatre of Walking Project added politicians should prioritise development of footpaths as it is a low hanging fruit that does not require massive investment, yet cater to large masses.
