BENGALURU : Two new Metro lines were launched this year, but they are witnessing low occupancy in line with the rest of the Metro network post lockdown. A good chunk of commuters along these stretches, who are just getting a chance to travel by Metro after a long wait, are irked with the 10-minute gap between trains and want more frequency.
The two stretches of Phase-II launched during Covid times — the Mysuru Road-Kengeri line on August 29 and the Yelachenahalli-Silk Board line on January 15 — are presently experiencing limited patronage which was expected due to the pandemic. The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) is running trains at 10-minute intervals on these lines, regardless of peak or non-peak hours.
Among those disgruntled are Shreya V Kashyap, a first-year dental student from R V Dental College. She is a regular commuter between Talaghattapura and R V Road Metro stations on the Yelachenahalli line. “We definitely need trains with more frequency. There have been times when I have missed a train by less than a minute when I am rushing to college around 8.20 am. It is almost a 10-minute wait for the next train and I reach collegelate. This long interval, in turn, is making every train crowded,” she told TNIE.
Her friend Nikitha S Murthy takes the train from Doddakallasandra Metro station to R V Road. “Since this is a new station, I think they are running trains only every 10 minutes. It will definitely help if trains ply at shorter intervals.”
Ravindra D, manager with a private firm, says his son Aditya frequently commutes on the extended Purple Line to meet his cousin at Jeevan Bima Nagar, “When he returns home, his train often terminates at Mysore Road. And then he needs to take the next Metro train which reaches up to Kengeri.”
Transport expert Sanjeev Dyamannavar concedes this is a problem Metro commuters on the new lines face. “I really feel trains ought to be run every five minutes at least, as it is public transport.” Asked about the issue, BMRCL Managing Director Anjum Parwez said, “Metro is run only on taxpayers’ money. The reduced patronage due to the pandemic has increased our operational losses. If you look at the Mysuru Road-Kengeri Line, we average only 8,200 commuters.”