Fact Check: Bus stuck in narrow lane on Mumbai flyover? No, image is AI-generated
A photo claiming to show a bus stuck on a narrow lane of a Mumbai flyover has gone viral on social media.
By - M Ramesh Naik
Claim:The image shows a bus or truck getting stuck due to the abrupt narrowing of lanes on a Mumbai flyover, highlighting poor engineering and infrastructure planning.
Fact:The claim is false. The image is AI-generated and does not depict any real incident on a Mumbai flyover.
Hyderabad: A viral image circulating on social media platforms purportedly shows a bus stuck or struggling to pass through a narrow section of a Mumbai flyover. The image is often linked to the recently popular Mira-Bhayandar flyover controversy that has drawn widespread criticism of Maharashtra’s infrastructure planning.
A Facebook user shared the image with a caption that read, “The BJP is in a mess in Maharashtra. Just think what would happen if a lane suddenly disappears in front of a vehicle moving at 100 km/h? A young man died in Noida due to a similar 90-degree turn!” (Translated from Telugu).
Similar posts can be seen here and here.
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The viral image showing a bus stuck on a narrow lane of a Mumbai flyover is AI-generated and does not reflect a real event.
Is there evidence of a bus or truck getting stuck on the Mumbai flyover?
A review of credible media reports, official statements from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and recent coverage of the Mira-Bhayandar flyover, part of Metro Line 9-related developments, found no record of any bus or truck getting stuck due to lane narrowing.
While the flyover has drawn criticism for its four-lane to two-lane transition, the MMRDA has attributed this to existing road-width constraints and phased expansion plans, rather than a sudden design flaw. No mainstream media outlet or traffic authority has reported any such incident. Searches for authentic photographs or videos of a stuck bus also yielded no reliable results.
This hinted that the image might have been artificially created.
Visual analysis of the image
A reverse image search led NewsMeter to a post shared by the official X handle of Congress Kerala on January 28. The account shared the same image, accompanied by a caption criticising infrastructure planning, stating, “A society stalls when they build bridges that even a bus can’t fit through.”
Closer examination of the image reveals multiple indicators of synthetic generation. Notably, a watermark of Google’s AI tool, Gemini, is visible at the bottom-right corner of the image, clearly indicating that it was generated using AI and is not a real photograph. The bus in the image does not seem to have a bus number at the front of the bus, an indication of an anomaly.
To further verify its authenticity, NewsMeter analysed the image using the AI-detection tool Hive Moderation, which flagged the image as AI-generated with over 99 per cent probability.
What is the actual controversy?
The confusion appears to stem from a real video of the bridge shared by an X account on January 26 named @GemsofMBMC, which showed a newly constructed flyover in Mira-Bhayandar narrowing from four lanes to two. The video went viral and sparked widespread debate online.
In response, the MMRDA issued a clarification on January 27, stating that the lane transition was not a design flaw but was based on available road width and future network planning considerations.
The flyover does not “suddenly narrow.” The transition from 4 lanes to 2 lanes is not a design flaw, but is based on available road width constraints, and future network planning.As per planning, the flyover has been designed with two lanes for Bhayander East and future… https://t.co/hZrsBl9SAR
— MMRDA (@MMRDAOfficial) January 27, 2026
The viral image claiming to show a bus stuck on a narrow lane of a Mumbai flyover is not genuine. It is an AI-generated image and does not capture any real incident or condition on the structure.
Therefore, the claim is false.
