Footfall spurs BMRCL to increase frequency of trains

The number of people taking Namma Metro trains in fully operational East-West corridor is swelling with each passing day.

The ridership on the 18.1-km stretch from Baiyapanahalli and Mysuru Road has breached one lakh-mark thrice in the last nine-days.

Namrata Krishna of Girinagar, who travels everyday to Indiranagar, is a happy woman but she has a point to make. “In the peak hours, the trains are jampacked. There is no space to get in or get out. Although, Namma Metro is air-conditioned, the rush is unbearable with people falling on each other,” she said hoping for increase in train frequencies.

 In the same vein, she did not forget to appreciate this rapid public transport mode. “While I am able to cover 18-km stretch in half an hour on Metro train, It takes as much time to travel a 2-km stretch from Mysuru Road to Girinagar by bus. I have travelled for a year-and-a-half till Indiranagar for work, and crossing Richmond Road was a pain,” she said.

Similarly, Prashanth Srinivas from Nayandahalli said that the Metro trains were too crowded already with no enough space to stand inside the metro. “Women and family members hesitate to take a metro due to pushing and shoving. Metro is a beacon of hope for Bengalureans. So, the BMRCL should create healthy travel experience for the commuters,” he said.

The ridership figures recorded since Namma Metro’s commercial run on April 30 has prompted the BMRCL to increase the frequency of trains in the said stretch. The corporation has set the process in motion to increase the frequency.

BMRCL spokesperson U A Vasanth Rao told Deccan Herald that the corporation would make necessary changes based on a study of commuter movement. “The study would gather data of footfalls at different intervals, stations and inside each Metro train. We will be able to increase the frequency up to 3 minutes. We will make these changes in a week,” he said.

He also mentioned that each train was designed with a capacity to carry 975 persons. ‘Sometimes, the Metro trains looks packed but they might be carrying about 600 passengers. 

At the moment, about 12 metro trains on an average make as many as 115 trips on the East-West corridor. We will extend the timing of operation till 11 pm based on the demand from bulk users such as corporate and other companies, he said and added that the Peenya stretch runs till 11 pm following a request from Peenya Industries Association.

Ridership on East-West line

 Saturday (April 30): 93,526
 Sunday: 1,23,789
 Monday: 96,159
 Tuesday: 94,680
 Wednesday: 93,882
 Thursday: 93,608
 Friday: 95,526
 Saturday: 1.02 lakh
 Sunday: 1.09 lakh (till 9 pm)