Public transport and reducing private vehicles is the only solution for ever expanding cities in which the first and last mile connectivity along with good sidewalks is crucial, said Hyderabad Metro Rail managing director N.V.S Reddy on Thursday.
And, despite running into “huge losses”, L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH) has been operating the Hyderabad Metro which is the world’s largest public private partnership project. This has to be taken into account before any criticism is levelled on the concessionnaire, he said.
The MD was addressing a gathering at the Parade Grounds metro station where an electric auto feeder service ‘MetroRide’ was launched. “I will give it any writing, any other organisation would have ran away with this kind of losses. About ₹20,000 crore has been invested with more than 80% coming from the private and the government will have to bear this cost if L&TMRH leaves. We are ready to open their books to show how much of losses they are going through. Governments cannot provide all these facilities, hence the private sector needs to be encouraged” in building infrastructure,” he said.
While many initiatives were taken to introduce first and last mile connectivity to the metro stations, the COVID pandemic and the shutdown of services for nearly six months has wiped most of them out, he said. ‘MetroRide’ is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled ride-hailing mobility platform offering first and last-mile connectivity with support from WRI India and Shell Foundation.
Tariff is ₹10 per ride while committing a minimal wait time for the commuters and the plan is to serve over one million customers in the first year of operations and metro connectivity is available for those living within the 5 km radius of metro stations. For now, it is available here and Raidurg. MetroRide is currently operational in Bengaluru, Delhi and Noida.
L&TMRH MD and CEO KVB Reddy said enhancing first and last-mile connectivity will be done gradually for other stations too soon. WRI India director,clean mobility and energy tech Pawan Mulukutla said the service will contribute to reducing carbon emissions also.
MetroRide CEO Girish Nagpal and CTO Kaaman Agarwal, both founders, said commuters can book their ride in two clicks and enjoy a hassle-free experience and the app will be integrated into the ticketing of metro and other public transport systems.
