BENGALURU: Inept attitude of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) and unruly passengers are leading to inefficient crowd management at Metro station. Commuters worry that a stampede, like the one in Mumbai’s Prabhadevi station, could happen any day.
“Boarding and deboarding is an everyday challenge,” says Yogeesh Prabhuswamy, a regular Metro commuter. The Vijayanagar resident who takes the Metro train to Indiranagar for work says the security officials on the platform force people to board even jam-packed trains. "They just push you in, instead of asking you to wait for the next train, which is just a few minutes away. I don't understand the urgency,” says the daily commuter.
While this is the case at most stations, changing platforms at the Kempegowda Metro station at Majestic is an additional worry. Majestic is crazier, says the 33-year-old software professional. According to official data, the station sees over 40,000 footfall per day. “There is utter crowd mismanagement while changing platforms. The crowd is massive and everyone is speeding,” says Yogeesh, who adds that commuting through the Metro with his grandparents has always been a challenge due to this chaos.
The software professional says that if each bogey is manned by a security personnel who could regulate the deboarding, it could ease the congestion.
At a Metro station, the fastest and the mightiest rule, opines Raj Kumar Duggar.
When City Express asked a security official at Majestic Metro station on why he insists on pushing the platform crowd to board the train, he responded, "How else do I make space for the next wave of commuters? If I clear this batch, there will be space for the next one to queue up”.
According to Duggar, the way to combat a crowd situation is prompt response by BMRCL monitoring officials. "They get plenty of information on footfall from stations and they also have CCTV monitoring. They can change the frequency of trains as soon as they spot a bigger crowd at a station,” he adds.
Duggar believes that six coaches on each train will help too. The current coach count is three, which BMRCL plans to double by December.
Even the architecture is not crowd friendly, says architect Mala. She says that BMRCL seems to have put thought in building rails and pillars only. "The flooring of the platforms is too polished for a public space. If there's a water spillage, it could be dangerous. If you are walking with heels, you must watch every step,” she says. Toilet infrastructure has been an afterthought for BMRCL, says Mala.
BMRCL trial at last station
“We are aware of the problems with crowd control and are planning ways to deal with it," informs BMRCL spokesperson U A Vasanth Rao. One of the recent methods of crowd control been put to test is at Yelachenahalli metro station and Majestic metro station, says the officer. "Both stations now have queue managers, we have tapes and equipments such as a band put in place at platform to organise people in a line to avoid crowding when the train arrives," says Rao.
People have responding well to the test run of these queue managers and soon this model will be duplicated in other stations, he adds. Bellur Lakshminaryan, who boards the train from Yelachenahalli metro station, says that the crowd management has been quite efficient. "I haven't faced any problem at Yelachenahalli," he says. However, the same queue managers aren't proving as efficient at Majestic station for him. "I wish BMRCL would find an alternative to ease congestion at Majestic,” says the 74-year-old.
‘People push and muscle for no reason’
Architect Mala Sugantha blames the mismanagement on unruly commuters. “They are repeated announcements on the train and the station to avoid chaos, but nobody is bothered," she says. Mala notes that at the Majestic station, instead of lining up on one side of elevator, leaving room for others to pass, "people push and shove while on it". She adds that despite there being regular announcements to allow commuters to deboard first at the station, several disobey. She believes that such a behaviour by the crowd on platforms could lead to a stampede, like the one in Mumbai recently.