ET survey: Bengaluru Metro: 'Govt is not doing enough to promote the service'

More than seven crore commuters have travelled on the Bengaluru Metro since October 20, 2011, when it first commenced operations. On the occasion of its fifth birthday, an ET poll reveals that 85% of Bengalureans feel that the government is not doing enough to promote the service and that the demand far outstrips the limited service. Umesh R Yadav and Bharath Joshi report

Nearly two lakh Bengalureans take the Metro every day . Software professional K Gagan Gowda is one of them and he is not a happy commuter.
Trudging his way into an overcrowded coach, 35-year-old Gowda can feel the weight of his laptop bag and lunch box bog him down. He even makes it a point to air his discomfort on social media but “nobody's listening,“ he says. “I go standing every day . Now imagine the rush when the entire Phase-1 becomes operational.“

The travail faced by scores of commuters such as Gowda bear testimony to two things: One, Bengaluru is desperate for a mass rapid transit system like the Metro.Two, the Metro service is simply insufficient when compared to the demand.

As the city's Metro service turns five, ET conducted a poll to understand what Bengalureans had to say about it. As many as 306 Metro users took the online poll, a figure higher than the suggestions Bangalore Development Authority received as feedback from the public for the controversial steel flyover project.



A majority 85% respondents said the state government is not doing enough to promote the usage of the existing Metro services. This cuts right at the heart of commuters' demand to add more coaches to handle the rush. Sample this: About 1.35 lakh commuters use the Metro from Mysuru Road to Byappanahalli, an 18-km stretch on the east-west corridor. Another 40,000 ply from Nagasandra to Sampige Road (Mantri Mall) on the north-south corridor. A single Metro train, with three coaches, can handle 975 passengers.Thirty trains are currently running, working out to a total passenger capacity of 29,250, which commuters and experts say is far below the rush.

And it was only earlier this month that the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) floated tenders to procure 150 coaches to convert the existing threecoach trains into six-coach ones.Authorities say six-coach trains will be a reality in 2017.

More than half the re spondents (51%) said they will switch their mode of commute to the Metro, provided there is connectivity to their routes.Some Bengalureans (34%) said they avoid taking the Metro at times, despite connectivity in their routes, due to various reasons including poor feeder services and lack of parking facilities. A majority of commuters (57%) felt Metro is not the only mode of mass rapid tran sit that Bengaluru needs to decongest traffic. They suggested improving public bus service.

Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy , while stating his reasons, begged to differ with the 85% Bengalureans who felt the government is not promoting the Metro enough. “It's most like we are not promoting BMTC, whose 6,500 buses carry half the city's population,“ the minister told ET. “Thousands of crores are spent on the Metro at the cost of BMTC, which has no money to purchase new buses. We get no tax exemption or money to build infrastructure.“

Metro first commenced operations with the opening of the MG Road to Byappanahalli stretch on October 20, 2011.Five years later, seven crore Bengalureans have travelled on the Metro, giving BMRC `122.02 crore in revenue. This is just 30.3 km out of 42 kms in Phase-1, which is expected to be complete next April. The 72-km Phase-2 is in the works, which will extend Byappanahalli to ITPB-Whitefield, Mysuru Road to Kengeri, Hesaraghatta to BIEC, Puttenahalli cross to Anjanapura, Gottigere-IIMB-Nagavara and RV Road to Bommasandra at a cost of `26,405.14 crore.

Bengalureans are divided on whether the Metro has really helped decongest traffic. About 43% said Metro has helped decongest the city “somewhat“, whereas 42% felt Metro has not made any difference. The poll also revealed that 42% respondents had switched their mode of commute to the Metro. As it turns out, a majority of them switched from public transport to the Metro, defeating the pur pose of trying to reduce dependence on private transportation.

“If nearly two lakh people are using the Metro, there has to be some decongestion.Having said that, it's difficult to say by how much,“ BMRC managing director Pradeep Singh Kharola said. “You'll see the impact once Phase-1 is completed.“ However, commuter rail expert Sanjeev V Dyammanavar blames lack of expertise within the BMRC, pointing out that no one in the utility comes from a railway background. “This is one of the reasons for the overall delay in implementation,“ he says. Overcrowding is imminent with increasing lengths of the Metro. “Delhi Metro is now facing problems of power trips, malfunctioning of air conditioning and reduced speed. What Bengaluru needs is multi-layered transport.“

Transport Minister Reddy agrees. “The chief minister has to look at other options like bus rapid transit system and improving feeder services.“