JAIPUR: At a time when thousands of commuters are stranded on roads due to ongoing low-floor bus strike, the Jaipur Metro continues to run dry and remains an ornamental public transport service for the city.
The Jaipur Metro project, Phase I (A) constructed during the Ashok Gehlot's tenure on 9.25-km corridor between Mansarovar to Chandpole was often criticised for its faulty route. The present situation in the city has made it evident that Metro is not serving the utility and failed to attract the commuters.
As the strike of Jaipur City Transport Service Limited (JCTSL) entered into sixth day on Wednesday, more than 2 lakh commuters are facing inconvenience in the absence of public transport. However, none of them have choose to travel by Jaipur Metro and ridership remains constant.
A senior JMRC official said, "No our ridership has not increased in the past six days. At present, the low-floor buses were not running parallel to Metro, this is the reason there is no change in ridership graph."
Officials at JMRC said, in the third year of its operations the ridership of Jaipur Metro is falling steeply and reached below 20,000. "The JMRC is struggling to earn revenue as average ridership in Jaipur Metro dropped from 49,774 per day in the first month (June 2015) of its operations to just 17,649 per day in September 2017."
This has also resulted in revenue loss for JMRC as it could earn approximatively Rs 67.44 lakh per month after spending approximately Rs 3.5 crore per month on its operations. The route of phase-I (Mansarovar to Chandpole) has already been criticized by the BJP government several times as it is financially not viable.
"In past two financial years, the JMRC earned revenue of Rs 19 crore and faced the operational losses of Rs 46 crore. Out of which, Rs 45 crore were provided to JMRC by the state government under Rajasthan Transport Infrastructure Development Fund."
Official sources at JCTSL said, "The JCTSL buses are catering to over three lakh commuters every day. The department operations are severely affected due to shortage funds. However, the state government is not releasing the payment since long. Simultaneously, funds are been provided to operate and maintain Metro, which is not serving the purpose as less than 20,000 commuters are travelling per day. The JCTSL asked for Rs 10 crore, two months ago, but the payment is not provided."
The Jaipur Metro project, Phase I (A) constructed during the Ashok Gehlot's tenure on 9.25-km corridor between Mansarovar to Chandpole was often criticised for its faulty route. The present situation in the city has made it evident that Metro is not serving the utility and failed to attract the commuters.
As the strike of Jaipur City Transport Service Limited (JCTSL) entered into sixth day on Wednesday, more than 2 lakh commuters are facing inconvenience in the absence of public transport. However, none of them have choose to travel by Jaipur Metro and ridership remains constant.
A senior JMRC official said, "No our ridership has not increased in the past six days. At present, the low-floor buses were not running parallel to Metro, this is the reason there is no change in ridership graph."
Officials at JMRC said, in the third year of its operations the ridership of Jaipur Metro is falling steeply and reached below 20,000. "The JMRC is struggling to earn revenue as average ridership in Jaipur Metro dropped from 49,774 per day in the first month (June 2015) of its operations to just 17,649 per day in September 2017."
This has also resulted in revenue loss for JMRC as it could earn approximatively Rs 67.44 lakh per month after spending approximately Rs 3.5 crore per month on its operations. The route of phase-I (Mansarovar to Chandpole) has already been criticized by the BJP government several times as it is financially not viable.
"In past two financial years, the JMRC earned revenue of Rs 19 crore and faced the operational losses of Rs 46 crore. Out of which, Rs 45 crore were provided to JMRC by the state government under Rajasthan Transport Infrastructure Development Fund."
Official sources at JCTSL said, "The JCTSL buses are catering to over three lakh commuters every day. The department operations are severely affected due to shortage funds. However, the state government is not releasing the payment since long. Simultaneously, funds are been provided to operate and maintain Metro, which is not serving the purpose as less than 20,000 commuters are travelling per day. The JCTSL asked for Rs 10 crore, two months ago, but the payment is not provided."
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