Transport in Mumbai is achieved by both public, and private transport. As of 2015, 52% of commuters use public transport. Mumbai has the largest organized bus transport network among major Indian cities.
Mumbai's public transport consists primarily of rapid transit on exclusive suburban railway lines augmented by commuter rail on main lines serving outlying suburbs, the bus services of the three municipalities making up the metropolitan area, public taxis and auto rickshaws, as well as ferry services. A metro and a monorail system were inaugurated in 2014. A commercial seaplane service was also introduced in 2014.
Road
Bus
Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) has a fleet of single, double decker buses and air-conditioned Tata Marcopolo CNG mini buses. BEST runs their buses all over Mumbai and outskirts like Navi Mumbai, Thane and Mira-Bhayandar. Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) operates air-conditioned Volvo buses from Navi Mumbai to Bandra, Dadar, Mantralaya & Borivali and non A/C buses from Navi Mumbai to Mulund, Kurla, Dadar, Andheri, Dindoshi & Mantralaya. Thane Municipal Transport (TMT) operates their buses from Thane to Mulund, Borivali, Mira Road, BKC & Andheri. Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Transport (MBMT) operates their buses from Mira-Bhayandar to Andheri, Thane and Borivali.
Taxis
Taxis arrived in 1911 to complement horse cars. Black and yellow Fiat taxis are an integral part of the city's heritage and have been depicted in numerous Bollywood movies. Metered taxis ply throughout Mumbai and have a monopoly from Bandra to Churchgate on the Western line and Sion to Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus on the Central line. Beyond Sion and Bandra auto rickshaws are not allowed and one has to hire a taxi. However, between Sion to Thane and Bandra to Bhayandar, both Taxis and autorickshaws are available to transport passengers.
Silver-Green taxis run by Meru and Yellow-Red by Gold cabs and Black by Mega Cabs Blue and silver air-conditioned metered taxis known as "Cool Cabs" Some private taxi operators provide yellow number plate cars for transportation
Mumbai is served by two intra-city highways: Old Mumbai-Pune Highway and Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway.
Number of taxis
There are around 58,000 taxis in Greater Mumbai and 98,566 in Mumbai MMR.
Classic black and yellow taxi numbers on Greater Mumbai roads had fallen to 20,000 by 2010 as 35,000 new taxis such as Maruti Alto, Wagon R and Omni, Tata Indica and Hyundai Santro joined the ranks. Recently State Transport Authority of Maharashtra State has also introduced the on-call facility to book these taxis, one can call 022-61234567 to book black and yellow (Non-AC) and CoolCabs (AC) taxis. Radio cab services have been introduced by some private companies. However, these taxis need to be booked in advance by calling their call center number.
Taxi Regulations
Law requires the driver of an unengaged taxi to take a passenger wherever they want to go, regardless of distance or time, if the fare meter of the unengaged rickshaw/taxi is in a 'For Hire' mode. The modes were denoted by older mechanical meters in this manner: a) upright – for hire b) half mast – not doing business c) facing down-currently hired.
Authorities encourage passengers to make complaints, for refusal to convey, excess fare, tampered meters, fake tariff cards, misconduct by drivers by direct email as well as by a website.
Rickshaws
Auto rickshaws play an important role in public transport in Mumbai. There are 246,458 black and yellow metered auto rickshaws, often simply called autos, in the Mumbai MMR as of 2008. Since 2002, all auto rickshaws have been required to use CNG as fuel. However, not all rickshaws comply. In some areas if a CNG filling facility is not available, the fuel is either petrol or LPG.
Auto rickshaws are not permitted to enter Old Bombay. The southernmost points accessible to them are Bandra Fire Station in Western Mumbai and Sion Bus Depot in Central Mumbai. Auto rickshaws registered in Mumbai are not allowed travel beyond the municipal limits. They have been allowed to travel between Sion to Mulund in the Central Suburbs and up to Mankhurd on the Harbour line. People who wish to travel beyond Mumbai to suburbs like Vashi, Airoli have to catch a suburban rickshaw. In the western suburbs, they are allowed to travel between Bandra and Bhayandar only.