Maharashtra Plans India’s First Pod-Taxi Corridor

26 Nov 2025 CW Team

Maharashtra is preparing to introduce India’s first pod-taxi network between Thane and Mira Bhayandar, marking a major shift towards automated, point-to-point urban mobility. The state government recently cleared the proposal, which aims to ease congestion on one of Mumbai Metropolitan Region’s busiest stretches.

The unmanned pod-taxi system, based on Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) technology, is designed to operate on elevated guideways and provide on-demand travel for small groups of passengers. Officials indicated that the project structure, technical requirements and alignment details are being finalised ahead of the tender process.

The corridor is expected to significantly reduce travel time, improve last-mile connectivity and support the region’s expanding commercial and residential clusters. The system will feature driverless pods, automated control, and energy-efficient operations, positioning the route as a pilot for wider adoption of PRT solutions across Maharashtra.

Once operational, the Thane–Mira Bhayandar link is set to showcase a new model of sustainable, low-emission mobility for high-density urban corridors.

Real Estate

05 Dec 2025

RBI Rate Cut Boosts Confidence Across Housing Market

Industry Context and Market DynamicsThe real estate industry has welcomed the RBI’s rate cut as a timely boost to affordability and demand. With home prices having risen steadily across major markets, even a marginal reduction in interest rates meaningfully strengthens purchasing power, especially for first-time and mid-income buyers.Ashish Jerath, President – Sales & Marketing, Smartworld Developers, observes:“The RBI’s 25-basis-point cut, bringing the repo rate down to 5.25%, is a timely boost for the real estate sector. Lower interest rates reduce borrowing costs, enabling homeb..

BMC Resumes Rs 170 Billion Road Works, Targets 80 per cent By Jan 2026

Following the withdrawal of the southwest monsoon in October, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has restarted work on 645 roads—covering 297.49 kilometres—under its large-scale concretisation programme. Data shows that more than 60 per cent of the resumed works are located in the western suburbs. Officials said the civic body aims to complete concretisation on 80 per cent of the roads where fresh work has begun by January 2026. Launched in 2022, the Rs 170 billion project seeks to concretise 700 kilometres of roads across Mumbai. All civil works were halted during the monsoon ..

India Pushes Digital Shift In Urban Land Mapping

The Department of Land Resources (DoLR) under the Ministry of Rural Development has convened a National Symposium on NAKSHA – the National Geospatial Knowledge-based Land Survey of Urban Habitations – to advance India’s transition to modern, technology-driven land mapping. Speaking at the inaugural session, Secretary Manoj Joshi underscored the urgent need to move revenue departments away from outdated, tape-based methods and rough hand-drawn sketches. He stressed that adopting latitude–longitude-based digital mapping and GIS-linked registration systems is essential for economic stabi..