BENGALURU: Buoyed by the surging ridership and the popularity of commuting via Namma Metro’ trains, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) stepped into its eighth year on Saturday targeting an average daily ridership of 5 lakh passengers within the next six months.
The figure, often cited as an ultimate goal by officials, no longer feels like a pipe dream as the daily ridership over weekdays averages 4.1 lakh passengers now.
The Dasara holiday on October 17 saw it inch closer to the 4.5 lakh mark for the first time with 4,49,401 commuters hopping on board Metro.
This is definitely a far cry from the initial days following the first run from MG Road to Baiyappanahalli on October 21, 2011.BMRCL is now betting big on the six-car trains to help it achieve the 5 lakh ridership mark.
“The dip in weekend ridership to 3.5 lakh passengers brings down the overall daily ridership to 3.8 lakh,” points out a top official.
He added, “The average daily ridership on weekdays is 4 lakh per day. It used to be 3.8 lakh before the first six-car coach was inducted.” The first six-car train for the City was launched this year on the Purple Line on June 23 while the second one was flagged off on October 4. Women commuters who use the six-car are happy be on board a full coach earmarked for them.
Pushing the timeline specified earlier to launch the third six-car coach by a little, another top official told The New Indian Express that the third six-car will be introduced by November first week. It was supposed to be inducted by October end.
“We have received the coaches for the third 6-car train. Integration with existing 3-car train has been done. Testing is going on right now. We hope to induct the third six-car train by first week of November,” he said. BMRCL was not able to provide specific stats on these trains.
The official also said the remaining 48 six cars will be introduced by December next year though Bharat Earth Movers Limited have repeatedly assured it would be in place by June 2017.
On the revenue front, BMRCL now crosses the one crore mark daily. Anywhere between 1,500 to 1,700 Smart Cards are purchased for daily travel.
The loss for the year 2017-2018 was cited as D554.52 crore with the cash loss pegged at D38.73 crore, stated a senior official.
The non-fare revenue through advertisements, retail outlets, leasing of property, the sale of tender documents and the training offered to loco-pilots is expected to surge this coming year, he added.
The problems of last mile connectivity and lack of parking space continue to be Namma Metro’s biggest unresolved woes.