According to data released by Maharashtra’s Ministry of Transport, the density of private cars in Mumbai soared by 18% since 2016, making it the most car-congested city in India. The city has 510 cars per for every kilometre of road, which is five times higher than that of Delhi (108).
In 2016, the car density in Mumbai was 430 cars per km. According to the ministry data, the number of registered private cars in India rose to 10.2 lakh, which is 28% of the total vehicular population in the city. While the private car population in Mumbai is less than a third of Delhi’s, the city has just 2,000 km of roads as compared to Delhi’s 28,000 km.
Transport expert Ashok Datar told TOI,
“Mumbai has been bursting at the seams past few years, and if there is no control over the purchase or mobility of private cars across the city, commuting by road will be a nightmare.”
The next most-dense city in India with 359 cars per km, ahead of Kolkata (with 319 cars per km), Chennai (297 cars per km) and Bengaluru (149 cars per km).
