Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation plans to increase the frequency of its services on the purple line.
Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation is planning to bring seven new trains on the purple line Commuters complain about the congestion and overcrowding while traveling in the metro trains. After the expansion of the purple line up to Whitefield (Kadugodi) and Challaghatta the daily ridership has increased by 1,53,000.
After the expansion of the purple line, more people are using metro services on a daily basis. Since the month of September the average ridership was recorded at w has increased by 10% percent According to chief public relations officer (PRO) of BMRCL Y the highest ridership of “7,00,4000 was recorded on Oct 20th ”.
In the morning, from 8 to 11.30 the condition is more severe causing discomfort to the passengers. “During peak hours it is very difficult to board the trains, especially on at stations like Majestic the condition is awful, people are constantly pushing each other to get inside and it
becomes very uncomfortable and suffocating. BMRCL should do something to resolve this, looking at the fact that the network is only going to expand in future,” said Archita Das, a passenger.
According to the Chief PRO at present a total of 54 train sets are running on the purple and green lines. Out of it 33 train sets are running on the purple line at an interval of five minutes during peak hours. BMRCL is planning to add more trains to reduce the congestion on the route while simultaneously reducing the interval between two trains.
“Currently two train sets of green line are used on the purple line. We are looking forward to introduce seven new trains to tackle this problem in the upcoming months and we have also given the contracts for rolling stocks. Also we are planning to operate at an interval of three minutes to increase the pace,” said Yashwant Chavan, chief PRO of BMRCL.
To resolve this problem experts suggest more integrated public transportation methods. “To prevent congestion, integrated transportation can be introduced. For example introducing
dedicated shuttle buses from the catchment areas to the metro stations. This will give passengers a choice. Also one integrated smart card can be used for the metro and these buses,” said Vikram Bhatt, principal architect and urban planner.
