Women who commute by Bengaluru’s Namma Metro on a daily basis may finally be able to heave a sigh of relief, as a ladies compartment may be added soon. However, people may have to wait until the end of next year for the process to be completed.
Responding to Congress member S Veena Achaiah during the Question Hour in the Legislative Council in Belagavi, Minister for Bengaluru Development and Planning KJ George said that there would be a separate reserved coach for women and people with disabilities when the number of coaches is increased on the metro, The Hindu reported.
KJ George also told the Council that the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) has signed an agreement with Bharat Earth Movers Ltd to build 150 coaches. He went on to add that the 150 coaches would be added in a phased manner, but this would only be completed by December 2018.
BMRCL is also contemplating increasing the frequency of trains from the current six minutes to three minutes, he said.
As per The Times of India, Veena also asked why the escalators to climb down had not been installed in many stations, to which he replied that people who required these escalators could use the lifts in these stations.
In June this year, KJ George had also said that at least two of its trains would have six coaches by the end of the year, and the rest would be completed by mid-2018. BMRCL presently operates 50 trains with 3 coaches each.
According to BMRCL officials in June, 40% of the metro’s daily passengers are women. They also observed that women passengers take the Metro at fixed hours. The most common time period is 8 am to 10:30 am and 5 pm to 8 pm.
The BMRCL director had then said that if one coach would not be enough for women, two would be allotted.
A ladies compartment and making the commute more disabled-friendly has been a long-standing demand. For people with disabilities, there is only one space in the first compartment.