For majority of the passengers who took the first two rides of the Metro Rail on Wednesday morning, the destination was remarkably common. It was to ‘somewhere’!
For them, it was mere joyride on the first day, than the solemn-sounding ‘urban transport’. People arrived early and waited patiently outside Metro stations even before they were opened to the public, 15 minutes before the scheduled hour. They were very patient with the initial hiccups that delayed the first trip.
Many had to miss the first ride from Nagole to Ameerpet as the ticketing staff fumbled with the machines for a good 20 minutes. Only those who had already purchased smart cards could enjoy the first ride which started about 15 minutes late. At Miyapur too, the passengers were a disappointed lot, as the single person manning two ticketing counters was very slow, and there was nobody to help operate the automatic ticket vending machine.
However, it did little to dampen the excitement. Passengers clicked away selfies at the ticket counters, near the entry points, on the platform and aboard the train.
“I started very early, as I did not know the route to Nagole. I did not want to miss the first ride,” said Mohammed Mazharuddin, who waited at the station since 4 a.m. He got to ride only the second trip which began around 6.30 a.m.
At Ameerpet too there were more joyriders than regular commuters. Employees availed short trips during their lunch breaks too, to live the experience.
“I live in Mettuguda and drive to work in Ameerpet. On the first day I wanted to see whether I can stop driving and use the Metro for office commute. I tried in the afternoon to avoid the morning rush,” said M. Nanda Kumar who took a short trip from Ameerpet to S.R Nagar and back.
Several students too boarded the train after their day in college. A group of three students from Page Junior College took a ride from Begumpet to Ameerpet to go to Bharat Nagar. “We wanted to see how fast we can reach Bharat Nagar. And it’s the first metro ride we ever took,” said Sanjay, whose friends Raghu and Saket agreed with him.
