Just two days ago, Mahendra Jain, Managing Director of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), said that they would introduce a system where only women can enter from the first two doors of the metro by March 1. However, the BMRCL has now decided to advance it. Starting Monday (February 19), the first two doors of the metro after the loco pilot will allow women’s entry only.
Vasant Rao, BMRCL PRO confirmed the same to TNM, and said, “Only women will be allowed to enter through the first two doors, but the coach itself will not be reserved for women only.”
Explaining the reasoning behind it, he said that currently the metro trains have only three coaches, which makes reservation of an entire coach for women difficult.
“However, we are planning to increase the number of coaches. We will start in two months and by June 2019, all 50 trains will have six coaches each. Then we will allocate one entire coach for women,” he said.
A metro coach has four doors out of which men will not be allowed to enter through the first two, in the first coach. Women can exit from any door or coach.
Women rights’ organisations in Bengaluru have been demanding women-only coaches in BMRCL trains for a while now, after several complaints from women who face difficulty in boarding the train, especially during peak hours.
Currently, at least four lakh people use the Bengaluru metro each day for commute on its north-south (green) and east-west (purple) lines. With the additional three coaches, the addition of which is touted to start by April, the footfall is expected to double to eight lakh per day.