Nagpur: Metro is supposed to revolutionize public transport in the city. However, it will come at a cost to commuters. State government has finalized the fares for Metro for the year 2018-19. They are far higher than the non-air-conditioned red buses and at par with the air-conditioned green buses or more.
For example, the fare of red bus from Sitabuldi to Pardi is Rs13 while that of green bus is Rs26. Pardi is around 10km from Sitabuldi and hence the Metro fare will be Rs30.
This is bad news for MahaMetro. The ridership report of green buses from November 2017 to January 2018 shows that the target is far from being achieved. Despite offering a comfortable ride, these buses got a ridership of less than 1% of the 1.64 crore passengers who travelled in city buses. Only 1.37 lakh commuters used the service in three months against an estimate of 5.18 lakh.
TOI had talked to several commuters of red buses regarding the poor response to green buses. The commuters said that while they would very much like to travel in green buses, the fares were beyond their reach.
As per an understanding between MahaMetro and Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), the latter will not ply buses on Metro corridor routes. This means that commuters will be forced to shell out more for travelling to their destinations.
Ajinkya Sahare, a resident of Pardi, told TOI that government should not take buses off Metro routes. “People should have the option of using the cheaper city bus and the costlier Metro. If Metro is foisted upon us, poor people will have to unnecessarily pay more for commuting. We will oppose it tooth and nail,” he said.
A MahaMetro official said that the agency was aware of
Metro fares being higher than bus fares. “We are targeting two-wheeler users. They should take the Metro. We will run feeder buses to pick them up from near their homes and taken them to the Metro station. After they get down at the Metro station, a feeder bus will take them near their workplace or educational institute. City buses are limited to main routes. Our feeder buses will ply on internal roads too,” he added.
