It has been a little over two weeks since Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) began operating trains on the Purple Line with a frequency of six minutes peak hours. However, while the situation is a little better, there is still no hope of finding a seat during peak hours, according to regular commuters.
During the strike by members of the unions of the State road transport corporations last month, Namma Metro operated with a frequency of five minutes during the morning and evening peak hours. When the strike was called off after three days, BMRCL reverted to the six-minute frequency during peak hours.
While this has pushed up the average number of passengers carried by almost 10,000 every day on the Purple Line, regular passengers are still an unhappy lot. “It is still difficult to find even standing space around 8 p.m. unless you are boarding from Baiyappanahalli or Mysuru Road. But the situation is better than before,” said Yusuf Reza, a businessman.
A total of 116 trips are operated on the Purple Line every day and the average number of daily riders has increased to 1.26 lakh from 1.15 lakh a month ago. But this has not translated to comfortable travelling. However, the BMRCL maintains that the trains are not running at full capacity yet and is now looking at ways to help passengers find some space in the trains.
“We found that the average ridership during peak hours was around 750 and with the five-minute frequency, there was not enough ridership. But with the number of people in the train so close to the capacity of 970 to 980, the passengers do seem to be crushed. We are looking at ways to encourage people to move to the front and rear coaches as well so that there is more room,” a senior BMRCL official said.
Soon, there will be announcements on the train asking people to move to the first and last coaches. This is expected to help distribute the passengers equally across the three coaches. “There are people who do not move away from the doors as well and they will be requested to do so,” the official said.
