The Bangalore Metro Rail Company on Tuesday announced that short loop trains on its Purple Line between Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Station-Majestic to Byappanahalli stations will be increased in peak hours to reduce crowding. This means that trains will run between these stations at a frequency of three minutes.
In a release, BMRCL’s PRO said, “With effect from today, in order to ease the crowd during morning peak at Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Station-Majestic, short loop operation between Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Station-Majestic to Baiyappanahalli Stations is increased from 9 to 11 trips. With this short loop operation, the headway will be 3 minutes from 9.00 Hrs to 10.30 Hrs."
The increase in services in this stretch will decrease the headway for full service trains that run from Mysore Road to Baiyappanahalli from 4 minutes to 5 minutes. The metro authority expects to increase its ridership with tweaks in timings.
The popularity of the metro has been increasing with a highest daily readership of 4.49 lakh on October 19 -- 2.43 lakh in Purple Line and 2.05 lakh passengers in Green Line -- and an average ridership of 4 lakhs.
Phase 1 of the metro runs through 42 kilometres of the city with the Green Line between Nagasandra and Yelachenahalli spanning 24.22 kilometres, and the Purple Line between Byappanahalli and Mysuru Road running 18.08 km.
However, activists point out that the original Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the existing network was projected have a ridership of 8 lakh, and could be reached if not for the short sightedness of the BMRCL. Until June, the entire network was running with three-car trains.
The delay in procurement of six-car trains was attributed to the cause of over-congestion due to errors made in the planning stages.