Monday morning chaos at metro stations spooks commuters

Bengaluru: Commuters had a tough start to the week on Monday morning as Namma Metro curtailed train services in view of the Ambedkar Jayanti holiday, leading to severe overcrowding at Majestic and other key stations. 

As peak hour began at 8 am, trains on both Purple and Green lines ran every 10 minutes instead of the usual five minutes. Similarly, trains on the busy Majestic-ITPL route were operated at six minutes, instead of three minutes. 

Despite the public holiday, most private offices remained open and crowds swelled at major stations, overwhelming the reduced services. 

A regular metro passenger described the crowd as "insane". "I waited 20 minutes at Majestic before I could get inside a train," the passenger said. 

Another metro user, Dilip Adiga, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that the crowd was so large that "people were standing from the ground up to the first floor." 

Krishna AG, another commuter, criticised Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), warning that poor frequency during the rush hour could lead to a stampede. "No queue, no rules, it is a free for all today," he wrote on X. 

PC Mohan, MP, Bangalore Central, slammed the BMRCL for "unacceptable mismanagement" at the Majestic metro station. "Reducing train frequency to 10 mins during peak hours, assuming everyone has a holiday, created absolute chaos. BMRCL must plan better in such cases and restore normal frequency immediately," he posted on X. 

As criticism mounted, BMRCL authorities reverted to the "regular" timetable and began dispatching trains from the Baiyappanahalli depot. 

A senior BMRCL official explained where the problem occurred. 

"Since it was a general holiday, we decided to follow a holiday timetable with fewer trains to allow for maintenance," the official told DH, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "We didn't anticipate such a high volume of commuters. Once we realised the rush, we switched back to the regular schedule. But until more trains could be mobilised, the crowd at Majestic remained high," the official said. 

According to the official, while government offices were closed on account of Ambedkar Jayanti, IT and other private companies weren't, resulting in large crowds. 

The BMRCL said it ran four additional trains from Baiyappanahalli to Majestic, while another train service was short-terminated at Majestic and returned to ITPL. In total, seven additional train services were operated from Majestic, Garudacharpalya and Whitefield, it noted. 

By evening, a five-minute frequency was maintained between Majestic and ITPL and a three-minute frequency between Majestic and Baiyappanahlli. 

20% fall in ridership

As of 4 pm, ridership stood at 3.57 lakh. During the same period last Monday (April 7), it was 4.52 lakh. In all, ridership fell by about 20 per cent.