HYDERABAD: Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMRL) scaled a significant peak on Tuesday, by increasing its ridership to a whopping 2 crore. But, that doesn’t mean it’s catering to all sections of the society. A new study has indicated that the clientele of Metro is limited to the middle class due to high cost of tickets.
The End User Survey Impact of Metro Rail Services conducted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has found that more than half of Metro’s clientele --62 per cent-- are people with income of over `2.5 lakh per annum. Only 23 per cent of commuters have income less than that. This, the study says, is the effect of the high prices of tickets; the cheapest ticket on Metro costs `10 and goes up to a maximum of `60. In comparison, the cost of tickets in TSRTC buses range between `5 and `30. “The Metro system may not be equitable as some passengers have felt that their travel costs have doubled since they made the shift from their regular modes of transport to the Metro,” says the study.
This, in fact, reflects on the occupational profiles of commuters surveyed. Among those surveyed there were no daily wage/casual labourers (0 per cent) who travelled by the transport system. On the other hand, 53 per cent were salaried employees who had chosen Metro despite having private vehicles. This is a good trend as adoption of public transport is crucial to reduction of pollution and traffic chaos.
But, there is a catch to it. The study says this trend of people leaving their vehicles behind and choosing public transport like Metro was initially visible in other cities too. For instance, a lot of people preferred the Delhi Metro in its initial days as it helped reduce commuting time and pressure of taking the road. However, ridership took a hit after Delhi Metro hiked its fares.
“This trend is visible in the Hyderabad Metro from the beginning itself,” says the study. However, on the positive side, the study found that Metro was proving to be an inclusive space for women and people with disabilities. “The presence of security personnel and Metro staff makes the space accessible for everyone to a large extent. Also, due to its design, it’s an inclusive space with regards to disability access.”
Is Metro changing our behaviour?
Metros have always been clean. Have you ever wondered why? It is based on the human behaviour theory which says that the physical surrounding (infrastructure) has a direct correlation with our human behaviour. The physical surroundings have set social norms which people follow. For instance, one would behave differently in a tea shop and in a five-star hotel.
In the context of the Hyderabad metro, the survey said, “..lack of established norms makes the creation of new social norms easier in the early stages of metro. In this State, metro users are far more malleable to follow instructions from authorities - to queue up, to give way, to not litter. Over a period of time, these behaviours become the new social norms of the place.”Morality also plays it part. Now, in the city metro, about 56 per cent belong to the taxpaying cohort.