KOCHI: Taking another step towards making the Metro ride an integral part of Kochiites’ daily life by providing last-mile connectivity to the riders, KMRL on  Wednesday launched e-autos in the district, with the first fleet of the green vehicles being flagged off by KMRL MD A P M Mohammed Haneesh at a function held at the Jawaharlal Nehru (JLN) Stadium Metro station. 

The e-auto project is run by the Ernakulam Autorickshaw Drivers’ Cooperative Society comprising all six trade unions in the city. It is a major highlights of the project. In the first phase, e-autos will be made available at six Metro stations - Aluva, Kalamassery, Edappally, Kaloor, MG Road and Maharaja’s College. The vehicle uses the latest technology which ensures good performance and with one single charge it can travel over 70 km .

In the last couple of months, the Metro’s ridership has gone upto 45,000 compared to the 30,000 earlier,” Hanish said. He said the Metro’s income-expenditure gap has been brought down to around Rs 13 lakh from around Rs 20 lakh. “If proper marketing is done from now, this can reach the break-even level by December. Further, we expect to start making a profit,” he said.

The launch of special uniforms for the drivers of the society, which is duly supported by the IOC, was held at the function. Technovia Info Solution’s Pvt Ltd is the society’s technology partner.