India, June 21 -- Twelve days after the accident on a crowded local train near Mumbra that killed five passengers and left nine injured, the state government has initiated steps to address one of the root causes: the lack of reliable public transport alternatives. In a bid to reduce pressure on the suburban rail system, a long-pending plan to integrate bus operations across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) is finally underway.

For the first time, authorities are mapping and consolidating routes run by various municipal transport undertakings-BEST, Thane Municipal Transport (TMT), Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT), Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Transport (KDMT), and others-across Greater Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Ambernath, Mira-Bh...