BENGALURU: Considering the rising number of women using the Metro, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) is taking measures to ensure that the first coach of the two six-coach metro trains, reserved for women, is occupied only by female passengers. To ensure this, Namma Metro has now started hanging a sign warning passengers that the coach is reserved exclusively for the use of women passengers.
According to commuters, while the announcement of reserving these coaches for women had been made earlier, there was a lot of confusion as there was no clear demarcation within the train itself. Now, the signboard serves as a reminder to men to not move towards the first coach. In addition, the guards at the station also ask female passengers to move towards the front of the train while boarding, while keeping the men restricted to the remaining five coaches.
The warning sign was the need of the hour, according to several passengers who said that they had to constantly ask men to move to the remaining coaches as they continued to board or move towards the reserved coaches in the absence of any signs. “They often say there is no such reservation and continue to stand in the women's coach and they have to be asked by us to move back. The presence of this sign will make things clearer,” said a commuter, who wished to remain anonymous.
The capacity of the six-coach trains is around 2,000 passengers and the first coach, which has three sections and four doors, facilitates easy occupancy and adequate space for women. “The idea is a good one and was needed. However, having only two trains currently with the facility is very less and maybe Namma Metro can look at this solution for the three-car coaches too till the time they are all upgraded,” said Anikta M, a resident of Jayanagar who uses the metro regularly.
However, according to guards working at metro stations in south Bengaluru, asking the women passengers to head towards the reserved coach is also a problem sometimes as they choose to use the other coaches instead. Women commuters say that reservation of the first coach does not mean that they cannot occupy other coaches. “We usually travel in a group and even with one coach reserved for women passengers, there is no space sometimes. If we don't have a problem with standing in the other coaches, I don't see why we cannot,” said Preethi S, a commuter on the Green line.
Speaking to City Express, a senior BMRCL official said, “The first coach of the six-coach Metro train is reserved for women. We have asked the guards to raise a strap with ‘For ladies only’ boards, expecting that both men and women commuters follow the instructions and act accordingly.”
