Thanks to 'high' riders, weekend Metro journey turns odious

Late-night Metro trains have come as a boon to thousands of people whose work ends after 10 pm but insensitive tipplers and party-goers have turned the seamless travel into a nightmare.

Metro staff sympathise with people who vomit in the train due to medical reasons but they can’t understand why people get drunk and throw up inside the closed cars.

A staffer at MG Road Metro station said drunk commuters do not listen to their advice not to board the train. “They argue that they are not using the service for free and tell us to back off. We advise them for their own good and because we know how tough it is to clean up the mess they leave behind,” he said.

About 30 people in the front car of the last Metro train on Friday moved to the extreme end as foul smell spread after a passenger vomitted near Central College station.

“The train goes till Nayandahalli and passengers suffer for nearly half-an hour. This is totally uncivilised on the part of a commuter,” said commuter Suresh Gowda, adding that officials should make an arrangement to clean the car at the next station.

At Kempegowda Metro station, where the train was halted for a few minutes, a staffer commented after looking at the mess, “People got Metro after years of waiting. But they don’t know how to use it.”

Come weekend, breathing becomes a difficult exercise after Metro reaches Trinity and MG Road stations.

“You are saved if you have had a drink. Otherwise, the stink of alcohol makes you suffocate as trains are always crowded,” said another commuter Rajeshwari Rao, who works for an IT company in Baiyappanahalli.

Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) spokesperson U A Vasanth Rao said officials were aware of the situation and a solution would be arrived at soon.

Noting that the security can prevent commuters from boarding a train if they find that the person is drunk and cannot carry himself or herself, he added, “Metro Act and Rules clearly prohibit entry of such commuters. We are discussing internally with the operations team as to how to deal with such situations. It is definitely a nuisance,” he said.