India, May 10 -- While Mumbai locals are celebrated as the city's "lifeline", millions across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) depend on shared autorickshaws to complete the final stretch of their daily commute. Yet 15 years after shared autos began operating in the city, the network remains poorly regulated.

A three-year exhaustive study conducted by The Mumbai Living Lab, a research-based initiative focused on improving urban mobility, in collaboration with Columbia University in New York, has found that nearly 13 million passengers use shared autorickshaws daily across Mumbai and the MMR. The study recommends urgent formalisation of the system through notified routes, mandatory fare displays, passenger monitoring and safer operati...