KOCHI: The Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) is set to expand its urban feeder bus network with the addition of over a dozen electric buses. The move is expected to greatly strengthen last-mile connectivity to the city’s metro and water metro systems.
“We will be looking to get about 15 to 17 electric buses. They will be rolled out to improve the link between our rail and water metro services, and to augment last-mile connectivity,” an official told TNIE. A tender to procure the buses will be floated soon, said the official .
The move comes close on the heels of the feeder service completing one year of operations. The service was introduced to bridge gaps that limited commuters from seamlessly accessing rail and water metro services.
In its first year, the feeder network expanded to six routes, operated by a fleet of 15 e-buses. Together, they clock around 2,300 km daily. Over 15 lakh passengers have used the service since launch.
The Aluva-CIAL corridor has recorded the highest ridership, while routes linking Medical College and the Kadavanthra-Panampilly Nagar corridor have also seen steady patronage.
Over time, KMRL has also undertaken periodic route rationalisation based on commuter demand, including the recent extension of the Kadavanthra-Panampilly Nagar circular service up to Kasturba Nagar-Kallupalam, bringing additional residential areas under its coverage.
Parallelly, KMRL has introduced a data analytics dashboard to monitor and optimise feeder bus operations. The platform integrates data from fare collection systems and bus telematics to track key indicators such as ridership, revenue, payment modes and service performance.