The Kochi metro expects a jump in average daily passenger patronage from 40,000 to 65,000 once the viaduct up to Pettah is commissioned in October 2019, A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish, the Managing Director of Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) has said.
Addressing mediapersons on Tuesday to announce a slew of events to celebrate the first anniversary of the commissioning of the metro project on June 17, 2017, Mr. Hanish said the five-km-long Maharaja’s College-Thykoodam metro corridor would be commissioned in June 2019.
“Land acquisition has begun in the Pettah-S.N. Junction stretch for taking the metro up to Thripunithura. The alignment for the stretch between S.N. Junction and Thripunithura Railway Station is being finalised,” he said.
Phase Two
Referring to the metro’s 12-km-long phase-two extension up to Smart City, through Palarivattom Bypass Junction and Kakkanad, he said KMRL expected a substantial increase of 50,000 commuters per day since Infopark would ultimately provide jobs to 50,000 people and Smart City to 35,000 people. KMRL had submitted a revised detailed project report (DPR) to the State government in February. It will shortly be sent to the Centre. Already, informal talks have been completed with the Centre.
In the third phase, the metro will be taken from Aluva up to Angamaly, through the international airport. The tender to ready the DPR for the Angamaly extension would be finalised in a few months, said Mr. Hanish.
Monthly pass
The metro agency would introduce monthly pass for regular commuters, by availing which each commuter can travel 60 trips. A daily pass using which a commuter can travel in the metro any number of times has been planned, targeting tourists. The discount rates will be announced by July 15, after considering different options.
Mr. Hanish said the average daily gap between income and expenditure on operation and maintenance of the metro system had fallen from ₹20 lakh in 2017 to ₹12 lakh now. The monthly loss is thus down from ₹6 crore to ₹3.60 crore.
Feeder services
On feeder buses, Mr. Hanish said GPS had been installed in 850 buses. A journey planner that will help commuters keep tabs of their movement and an app will be readied in 10 days.
Similarly, a society has been formed to bring 15,000 autorickshaws under one umbrella. They can operate as share autos, charging ₹7 per commuter for a 1.5-km distance, as on-call autos or as ones that operate on the basis of an app which will be readied in two months.