Now, one can pre-book slots for short visits at Malabar Hill walkway

Indian Express

4 days ago

Four months after opening the elevated natural trail walkway at Malabar Hill, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is set to upgrade its existing ticketing system as part of which visitors can now book slots for a shorter period of time to enter the walkway. As part of the new system, people will be able to book tickets through WhatsApp Messenger as well, said civic officials.
At present, visitors are allowed inside the walkway only after they have pre-booked their slot. People can pre-book an hour-long slot through the BMC's dashboard which is accessible via mobile phones and computers. To prevent overcrowding on the walkway, the administration has capped the maximum number of visitors inside the walkway at 200. The walkway became operational in the last week of March, and in April 2025, the walkway garnered a footfall of one lakh visitors. However, in May the footfall dropped to 55,000 while in June as many as 45,000 people had visited the walkway.
However, the civic authorities have attributed the dip in the number of visitors to the pre-monsoon showers of May and monsoon onset that took place early in June.
'As part of the new upgrade, we are planning to introduce short visit span ranging from 15 minutes to 30 minutes. By this way, we can divide a 60-minute slot to four different slots. This would allow more people to visit the walkway at any given time and prevent overcrowding at the spot as well,' said an official.
The civic officials said that as part of the new software upgrade, people will be able to book tickets via a dedicated WhatsApp number. The BMC will also introduce a chatbot that will be integrated with the BMC's official helpline number allowing citizens to book the tickets directly.
'The new WhatsApp number will be circulated among visitors. They can choose the preferred slot and their duration from their chatbot and finalise a time for their visit. This system will be pretty much seamless. The number will also be displayed at the entry points. So, visitors who haven't booked slots earlier can also get on spot bookings if ticket are available,' the official said.
The walkway is inspired by Singapore's elevated forest walkways, also known as 'nature trails,' which are popular crowd pullers.
The walkway deck is made of wood, and the entire structure is constructed with minimum usage of concrete to ensure natural flow of water through the hill slopes and it is not interrupted, and wildlife movement is not affected.
The entry and exit points of the trail are from Siri Road, right behind the Kamala Nehru Park from where the walkway extends up to 705 metres, traversing within the Malabar Hill Forest, providing an unhindered view of the Arabian Sea. The walkway also has a birdwatching zone and a glass bottom viewing deck.
Meanwhile, to keep a check on crowd control, the civic body charges an entry fee of Rs 25 for visitors, while foreign citizens are being charged Rs 100. Besides this, the civic authorities are also prohibited from carrying food items on the trail considering the presence of monkeys in the forest.