The picture cannot be more contrasting. Travelling in the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) Green Line or Corridor Two from Jubilee Bus Station (JBS), Secunderabad, to Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS), Imlibun, with 10 stations for about 11 km, is like a picnic with enough space inside the three coach trains even during the peak hours.
In comparison, Red Line (Corridor One) running between Miyapur and LB Nagar runs full while the Blue Line (Corridor Three) between Nagole and Raidurg is also packed to capacity with the metro rail authorities struggling to deal with the peak hours rush in the morning and nights even with increased frequency of short distance trips from Mettuguda towards Raidurg.
It shows up in the passenger count. If the Red Line has a daily ridership of about 2.50 lakh passengers, Blue Line has a ridership of about 2.18 lakh, whereas, on the Green Line, it is about 25,000 only even when it traverses through some of the busiest thoroughfares of the twin cities snaking through the dense residential colonies, educational institutions, movie theatres, markets, hospitals and so on.
Time lag
So, why is this poor patronage when the other two lines are bursting at their seams? Opinions vary - there are passengers regularly travelling on the metro line, pointing out the time lag between two trains defeating the very purpose of running the metro service of providing quick public transport and maintaining punctuality.
“I entered the MGBS metro station from the bus complex making an overnight journey but realised there was no train for more than 20 minutes. I quickly took a local RTC bus to reach Tarnaka directly. If I took the metro, I would have to get down at the Parade Grounds station and catch the connecting Blue Line, which would have taken a lot more time,” says Krishna, another regular passenger.
There are those who, like Plus Two student Dhruv K, travels from Raidurg to Parade Grounds on the Blue Line and then take the Green Line from JBS to Chikkadpally at the cross-over station to attend his classes every day at a coaching institute. He is forced to factor in the less number of services when he hops into the Green Line in the morning and, on return, in the evening during his hectic academic schedule. “Otherwise, it’s very convenient,” he says.
“We should consider this route is well serviced by RTC buses. The metro service in this region sure has made a lot of difference to us because of the air-conditioned travel, faster service and connectivity to new growth regions like Miyapur, Raidurg, Nagole and others. But, unless metro trains are run on schedule with a good frequency - whether packed to capacity or not, how will people shift from the roads,” asks Dr. Srikanth, a regular rider.
The route not going upto Falaknuma as it was envisaged is considered as another reason. “I travel from Falaknuma to Narayanaguda regularly. Taking a bus is more convenient than doing a combination of both bus and metro,” says Pasha, an elderly person.
Frequency rarely followed
HMR is operational from 6 a.m. (first train starts from the respective terminal stations) to 11 p.m. (last train departs from terminal stations). During the peak hours of 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Red Line frequency is about three minutes, Blue Line is about four minutes and Green Line is seven minutes. Non peak hours the frequency is from six to 10 minutes but it is obvious, the Green Line frequency is rarely followed.
Metro Rail authorities say the frequency has been increased from 6-8 minutes on the Green Line when the service was launched and later to 8-20 minutes between peak and non-peak hours due to “poor” patronage, with reasons cited being parallel bus and MMTS services plus ‘affordability’.
“We have been getting requests from the passengers to provide more services and increasing frequency. But, we have to factor trains availability as most of the 57 three-coach sets with the concessionaire L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH) are already being used,” they explain.
Connectivity to Falaknama
“Connectivity up to Falaknuma may not have helped in getting more passengers considering the affordability issue in this route. Yet metro transport is the only solution for these parts, and more people are going to make use of this line as the roads choke further in the near future,” they said. The fact is, despite reducing the fares on this route with special offers, the ridership has not picked up as was envisaged when it was being built.
Metro Rail officials point out that Green Line construction was the toughest because of land acquisition issues, agitations by traders and the subsquent political slugfest. “We were expecting more passengers because the route has a dense population and roads are narrow, but it did not happen,” they admit.
Suresh, another traveller on the Green Line says: “There are lots of families going from the Old City to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Shamshabad taking a cab just to watch the planes take off and land. Extending the line from MGBS to Falaknuma and then onto the airport will be a boon to the people living on this side of the city. Gachibowli-Kondapur residents can anyway afford to take the cab.”
