BENGALURU: Hassled commuters getting squeezed during peak hours on platforms and Metros got a chance to pour out their woes when Bangalore Central MP PC Mohan and Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya took a ride on the Purple Line from K R Pura to Nadaprabhu Kempegowda station (Majestic) on Monday evening. The objective was to get first hand info from commuters on their travel experience.
The need to increase the frequency of trains was a common complaint from commuters as they face hardships inside jam-packed trains. The official response was that trains could be run at a 3-minute frequency during peak hours only after the existing 57 trains sets are augmented by more trains sets by next year.
Among those who came on board the train just to meet the MPs was Lavanya Sanjay, an IT professional. She appealed for the special loop train presently run between Mysuru Road and Garudacharpalya to be extended up to Pattandur Agrahara. “I use the Metro daily for work. Though the train up to Garudachapalya helps us, trains running up to Pattandur are jam-packed. We still end up waiting at the platforms missing on a few trips,” she said. The MPs assured her it would be done.
Another commuter, Vinutha PS, said Metro trains were arriving only at a ten-minute frequency even during peak hours. “We always keep waiting and we have never seen trains come in a 5-minute frequency during morning or evening hours.”
Mohan said that the batch of 21 train sets will start arriving from June 2025. “By the time they are all supplied, present ridership averaging 8 lakh per day will go up by an additional 40%,” he said.
Surya felt the signages at Kempegowda Metro station were misleading. “We have received many mails and there are many videos on social media too about the lack of clarity on it. They definitely need to be reviewed,” he said.
He added that Bengaluru Metro was studying the platform screen doors (PSDs) being used in Singapore Metro. “As of now, PSDs will be introduced in stations which are congested. Even other Metros in India have them in stations with high footfalls,” he said.
Meanwhile, to ease congestion at Kempegowda Interchange Metro station, BMRCL on Monday opened an additional entrance that will help commuters interchange between the Purple Line and Green Line.