Chennai Metro seems to be doing good business from parking, as many of the stations’ parking lots have been running full. Chennai Metro gets nearly ₹1.92 lakh a month as parking revenue, and Vadapalani tops the list with an average of 1,821 vehicles being parked a day, followed by Alandur where 915 vehicles are parked on average.
According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited, though it is not a very huge space, Vadapalani station’s parking lot is almost full on most days. “Apart from the crowd coming to the station, there is a huge population coming for shopping that prefers to leave vehicles here. Alandur’s parking lot is pretty spacious and seems to have a lot of takers, mostly working professionals,” an official said.
In the third spot is Koyambedu Metro station with an average of 723 vehicles parked on a daily basis. “Those coming from Maduravoyal or Nolambur park their vehicles here and take the train,” another official said. Thirumangalam Metro station ranks close with an average of 613 vehicles.
Officials said the stretch from Washermanpet to AG-DMS, opened a few months ago, didn’t seem to be a hit with commuters initially. However, within a few weeks, officials saw many asking for monthly parking passes for these two stations alone.
“Later, we found that these two areas didn’t have too many facilities for parking and many businessmen were willing to pay us any amount to get these slots. Once we found that, we stopped letting out the space. We want Chennai Metro customers to have the first priority,” another official said.
