Chennai Metro Rail patronage rise by 26 per cent after Anna Salai made two-way
CHENNAI: Metro Rail commuter patronage in the LIC and Thousand Lights stations rose by 26 percent after the Anna Salai stretch was made two-way in September, after seven years.
According to the data provided by CMRL to Express, in July, when the stretch was one-way, 47,816 commuters traveled from LIC and 71,146 from Thousand Lights station.
However, in September, it saw a sharp spike as 64,086 passengers used the LIC station while 98,126 people used the Thousand Lights station respectively.
CMRL officials said feeder service for last-mile connectivity placed in these two stations could have boosted the patronage after the stretch was made two way.
Both these stations are in close proximity to prime places like Spencer’s Plaza, Express Avenue, Sathyam Cinemas, Devi Cineplex, Regional Passport Office and the LIC office. On weekends, the patronage touched 1.5 lakh, said the data.
The 23.1 kilometres long blue line corridor connects Airport and Wasermenet metro stations. Commuters in these stations said that the feeder service, mainly to Ethiraj Salai which is 1.5 kilometres away, facilitates them to use the metro.
‘‘There are plenty of share autos which connect to Nungambakkam and Anna Nagar from Ethiraj Salai and the feeder service is mostly available throughout the day,’’ said G Priyanka, a commuter from Nandanam.
However, despite an increase in metro patronage, the traffic police authorities are yet to figure out a way to bring down traffic density along Anna Salai.
‘‘Traffic is partially smoother in the two-way stretch than it was during the one-way period as the Anna Salai is slightly wider. But people definitely need to switch to public transport for a permanent solution,’’ said a traffic personnel.
Currently, there are no traffic signals at the Wellington and Royapettah Junctions and it is manned by traffic personnel. However, officials expect a signal to be there soon.
Meanwhile, experts said that multimodal integration can provide a safe and efficient experience for public transport users.
‘‘This (multinodal integration) can be achieved through formulating a long-term plan on the integration of Chennai’s rail-based systems, like the MRTS, sub-urban, CMRL stations with each other and with other modes, such as buses (MTC), paratransit, walking, and cycling, ‘’ said Sivasubramaniam Jayaraman, Manager, Transport Systems, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.
He pointed out that there was a lack of coordination between the different transport departments and they need to come together.
‘‘Several government agencies are responsible for individual aspects of transportation and there needs to be effective coordination between them. This can be facilitated by creating a single agency to bring the different departments together,” said Jayaraman.