Hyderabad Metro: Will it bloom or doom?
Posted [relativedate] at [relativetime time_format=”H:i”]
Prime Minister on Tuesday inaugurated the long-awaited Hyderabad Metro train services. He took the inaugural ride from the Miyapur station till the Kukatpally station, a stretch of 5 km. The Prime Minister Inaugurated the first phase of the project that covers 24 stations. Hyderabad Metro will kick-start its services to common public from tomorrow at 6:00 am.
The Prime Minister was joined in the ride by Telangana Governor ESL Narasimhan, Chief Minister K Chandra Shekar Rao, Information and Technology Minister KT Rama Rao, Union Affairs Minister Harinder Singh Puri and BJP leaders Kishan Reddy and Dr. K Laxman.
The metro is offering a number of features for the convenience of the commuters, let’s take a look at them:
- Commuters can avail smart cards from the metro from this weekend. It can also be used for other transport in the city.
- Metro is expected to carry 17 lakhs of passengers every day and is going to cover a 30km stretch in its first phase.
- The Hyderabad Metro project is divided into three corridors, covering all densely populated areas.
- In the beginning, the metro will be operating from 6 am to 10 pm, later they are expecting to reschedule the timing from 5:30 am to 11 pm. This reschedule will take place depending on traffic and demand, said Telangana’s Technology Minister KT Rama Rao.
- Tickets are priced from Rs. 10 to Rs. 60.
- Elevated metro will have stations located at a distance of approximately 1km.
- The operations will start with three coaches, each of which will accommodate 330 people per train. The number of coaches would be gradually increased to six depending on the peak hours and traffic.
- The metro will eventually include feeder bus services, parking facility at strategic locations and have connectivity with other modes of transport.
- The Hyderabad metro line is a 72km elevated stretch, which is expected to be completed by 2018. It is the largest public-private partnership project, the state government said.
- There are also plans to build sky walls connecting the stations directly to commercial complexes, stadiums, and offices.
‘Hyderabad Metro may not be successful’ says survey
However, the commuters may choose other modes of transport within the city, they may prefer MMTS trains, RTC buses, and shared cabs, also keeping in mind the minimum and maximum distance fares are expensive.
The state government wants to keep the fares affordable so that large chunk of people could afford it for conveyance and transportation. However, business studies carried out by Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd and L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad Limited revealed that commuters may prefer comfort and safety while traveling and not bothered by a marginal difference in fares.
Studies show that the students, businessmen, corporates will surely prefer cabs to travel long distances are expected to avail the Hyderabad Metro Rail Service.
The survey also pointed out the lack of ‘parking’ in and around the metro as of now. With no parking facilities in and around the metro stations currently, the commuters are likely to face a hard time. ‘People living 2-3 km away from the metro station need to the metro station by bike. They need to find a suitable parking place to park their 2-wheeler before they avail the metro services. This would be time-consuming and difficult,’ said a two-wheeler commuter.
Even the ‘basic services’ are not provided near the metro station. The Ameerpet – Maitrivanam metro station is known to be the most crucial exchange. 6,000 people are expected to use the metro station daily. There is only one public-toilet available for the passengers to use. The public toilets are not even seen in the nearby areas.
These all things can surely have a great impact on the numbers of the metro’s ridership.
