As offices open, residents want halts at all metro stns

Noida: With most offices starting across NCR, Noida residents are now demanding that the NMRC metro trains should stop at all stations for the convenience of passengers. Residents have also asked the Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) to improve feeder services and other transport options for last mile connectivity in the city.
The NMRC’s Aqua line metro has been running like a fast train without stopping at nine of the 21 stations due to less footfall.
The tenth station that reopened for use only last week was the Sector 81 station. Stations in Sectors 50, 101, 83, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147 and 148 are still being skipped during peak hours. The average run time of the aqua line station from Sector 51 to Depot Station in Greater Noida is 45 minutes and 43 seconds, which was reduced to 36 minutes and 40 seconds by skipping these.
Officials said that most of these stations had hardly any footfall with no passengers at all on many occasions. Skipping these stations saved time for the commuters and resources for NMRC. However, the footfall has increased in the past couple of months and the daily ridership has crossed the 11,000-mark now. On Monday, the aqua line saw a record high of 11,419 commuters after it restarted operations on June 9. Residents say that with increasing footfall, all stations need to be restarted now.
“Many people are unable to use the nearest metro station since it is non-functional. In the past few months more people have also settled in the 14x sectors and stations from Sector 143 to 148 should also start now,” said SK Jain, a resident and founder of progressive community foundation.
He added that the city does not have suitable public transport for the residents, forcing them to either travel by private cabs, three-wheelers or use their personal vehicles. The Aqua line metro has not been connected to DMRC’s Blue Line metro, which connects Delhi and Noida.
“Due to this, people are not able to use the Noida Metro operated by NMRC properly. There are many daily commuters who travel from Noida and Greater Noida to Delhi but can’t use the metro as it’s too cumbersome to change multiple times and use different modes,” said Amit Gupta, a resident of Sector 77.
He added that since people are forced to use private vehicles and cabs, it is also adding to the high pollution levels of NCR.
Residents have written to the NMRC and the chief minister asking that the people of the developed sectors around the metro stations should be given the facility to reach the metro station using feeder buses. Additionally, buses plying on different routes that were operated by NMRC should be re-regulated depending on demand from various areas.
NMRC managing director Ritu Maheshwari said, "One station was opened last week. We will review the ridership data and take a call in some time."