It was a day of smiles for thousands of commuters from South Bengaluru who did not have to brave traffic jams as they chose to take the metro to work on Monday.
The North-South corridor, linking Yelachenahalli with Nagasandra, was thrown open to the public on Sunday evening. However, commuters got a chance to experience the ride on Monday when services started at 5 a.m. By 10 p.m., the Green Line had recorded a ridership of 1,19,041.
On Sunday, the Green Line had recorded around 57,000 commuters.
“I can travel across Bengaluru in no time. The whole city is now accessible. I hope BMTC increases the feeder services soon,” said Sujatha Hegde, a teacher who lives near the Yeshwantpur metro station.
Commuters who use the Purple Line welcomed the new options that have opened up with the linking of the two lines.
“Travelling to South Bengaluru is always a problem because of traffic jams near Richmond Circle. The metro is a better option. We were eagerly waiting for this line to start,” said Abhay Jain, who stays in Indiranagar.
Many took the metro on Monday only to carry out a dry run. “I wanted to see the rush during the peak hours, the frequency of trains and parking facilities. I have to travel till Yelachenahalli,” said Ramakrishna L., who works near the Vidhana Soudha.
Cards preferred
While the Green Line was packed on Monday only during peak hours in the morning and evening, the queues for tickets at the newly-opened stations were long. The staff at Yelachenahalli had to put up barricades to ensure that commuters followed the queue.
Many commuters decided on-the-spot to purchase smart cards. This prompted the BMRCL to open additional counters at some stations to sell smart cards. “The smart card is a good option even for those who do not travel every day. It does not cost much and saves the trouble of queuing up for tokens,” said Raghavendra, a student who boarded a train at Jayanagar station.
Waiting for facilities
Passengers have complained that facilities such as escalators, scanning equipment and even the air-conditioning were not functioning at some stations on the newly inaugurated stretch. They were also unhappy that Chickpete and K.R. Market stations had not been cleaned thoroughly.
“These stations are not up to the mark. Some work is pending,” said K. Rajesh, a resident of Basavangudi.
Extension of timings
As the timings of the Purple Line and Green Line were different, a lot of passengers raised the question of what would happen to those who wanted to cross between lines. While the Green Line operates till 11:00 P.M., the Purple Line closing time was 10:00 P.M.
BMRCL pointed out that it had made changes in the time-table before the launch on Saturday in order to accommodate these passengers on the Purple Line who travel on the last train as well as those from the Green Line who want to change at the Kempegowda Interchange, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) has started operating trains from all four terminal stations at around 11:00 P.M.
Explaining the procedure, U.A. Vasanth Rao, Chief Public Relations Officer (BMRCL) said, "At 11:00 P.M. a train will leave from Baiyappanahalli, Mysuru Road at 11:05 PM, Nagasandra at 10:50 PM and Yelachanahalli at 11:00 PM and will converge at the Kempegowda Station in around 15-20 minutes. Here passengers who are at the station will board the train for whichever direction they are travelling towards and leave at 11:25 PM. They will reach their destination by midnight."
The new procedure is being tried out since Sunday when the Green Line commercial services were launched in the evening for the public.
Ridership on Sunday
Purple Line
60,593
Green Line
56,930
Ridership on Monday (till 6 p.m.)
Purple Line
1,33,203
Green Line
75,673
