As digital mobility platforms, such as ride-hailing apps, have become more widespread and popular, they have garnered public and scholarly interest as potential solutions to challenges of climate change, insufficient mobility services, urban congestion and pollution. This paper examines the potential of ride-hailing platforms through a more critical lens. Thereby I draw attention to how platform transportation workers in Mumbai, India, produce mobility services by collaboratively linking the social and material resources of the city. Networks and communities of transport workers have long been essential for providing intermediate mobility services in Mumbai, and continue to do so in the platform era. Building on these observations, I inquire whether there is potential for the creation of worker-centric platform models that benefit both the workers and the larger urban majority. Therefore, drawing on my fieldwork in Mumbai, I first explore how the current model of digital mobility platforms in Mumbai reinforces socio-spatial fragmentation in Mumbai while leaving workers with decreasing earnings and rising work pressure. Considering the agency of platform workers, I then aim to uncover how platform workers appropriate platform mechanisms and engage their collective knowledge and experiences in order to improve their working situation. I draw upon these insights to highlight how worker-centric approaches to digital mobility platforms can contribute to more inclusive and sustainable cities.

中文翻译：

---

孟买的城市交通：超越“城市解决方案主义”，迈向以工人为中心的平台化


随着叫车应用等数字移动平台变得越来越普遍和流行，它们作为应对气候变化、移动服务不足、城市拥堵和污染等挑战的潜在解决方案，引起了公众和学术界的兴趣。本文通过更关键的视角探讨了网约车平台的潜力。因此，我提请大家关注印度孟买的平台交通工作者如何通过协作连接城市的社会和物质资源来提供出行服务。运输工人的网络和社区长期以来对于在孟买提供中间出行服务至关重要，并且在平台时代继续如此。基于这些观察，我询问是否有可能创建以工人为中心的平台模式，使工人和广大城市大多数人受益。因此，根据我在孟买的实地考察，我首先探讨了孟买当前的数字移动平台模式如何加剧孟买的社会空间碎片化，同时导致工人收入下​​降和工作压力上升。考虑到平台工作者的代理性，我的目标是揭示平台工作者如何利用平台机制并利用他们的集体知识和经验来改善他们的工作状况。我利用这些见解来强调以工人为中心的数字移动平台方法如何为更具包容性和可持续发展的城市做出贡献。