With the metro entering its second year of operations from Monday, 6 March 2023, Pune citizens are urging the Maha Metro to start paying heed to last mile connectivity which hasn’t been the focus during the first year of operations.
Sudhir Mehta, past president, Maratha Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), said, “The metro in Pune is most welcome but without last mile connectivity, there is no chance of success. So far, the average daily ridership per day is 3,222 which could have been covered with a single bus.”
“We need to plan a fleet of at least 5,000 feeder buses to do justice to the metro which is costing us over ₹20,000 crores in capex (capital expenditure) and more in operating losses. Unless we do this, our dubious rank as the sixth most congested city in the world for traffic will only get worse,” Mehta said.
The Maha Metro in coordination with the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML) had started on a trial basis feeder bus services from six metro stations on March 21, 2022 where the buses operated in 8 km stretches around the Garware college to Vanaz and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to Phugewadi metro routes. However, due to poor response, the feeder bus services were suspended in October 2022.
Omprakash Bakoria, chairman and managing director (CMD), PMPML, on Sunday said, “It was the initial phase and service had been started on a trial basis. As soon as the metro routes are expanded, the feeder bus services will resume. We already have far better plans to relaunch the service and it will benefit metro users.”
Along with feeder bus services, citizens are also demanding adequate parking space at every metro station which is currently not available.
Vishal Sharma said, “The Pune metro main stations do not have parking space nor any bylane for pickup and drop. If this is how it remains, we will soon be the most congested city to live in. An example here is Garware college metro station.”
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) plans to allow the Maha Metro to use mechanised parking at Jangli Maharaj road. Another citizen Bhushan Khare said, “All boarding points should have feeder buses and secure parking facilities to help us with the metro services. Need to push planners to complete the facility provided by this connectivity. Smaller electric buses can run on dedicated routes for last mile connectivity.”
Brijesh Modi said, “Last mile connectivity is so important for the metro and must be seen as an integral part of metro planning and execution rather than after commencement of the metro route. Foresight and people psychology must be kept in mind in any infrastructure project.”
Apart from feeder bus services and adequate parking space, citizens also want metro stations to have share auto-rickshaw/taxi services and local minibuses.
Sandeep Sharma said, “Feeder services are a must otherwise people will prefer their vehicles, taxis and autos. Going by the Delhi example, by the time the metro stabilises, the population of the city would have increased exponentially and both roads and metros would get choked up.”
Whereas Maho Metro public relations officer Hemant Sonawane said, “Parking space will be allotted at the stations. We are already in talks with the PMC. Once the route is expanded, last mile connectivity will be taken care of in future.”
What next for the metro in its second year of operations?
Plans are afoot for routes namely Civil court to Ruby hall, Ruby hall to Ramwadi, and Civil court to Swargate. Once any two of these routes are opened within a span of two months, the third route will also be opened.
The remaining 21 km of phase 1 will be completed in 2023. The Maha Metro has already submitted the phase 1 extension and phase 2 detailed project report (DPR). While the phase 1 extension is from PCMC to Nigdi and Swargate to Katraj. The extension is in a very advanced stage of approval with the central government.
The DPR of phase 2 has been submitted to the PMC, and it is likely to be forwarded to the state government.
