Kolkata: From next Tuesday (Dec 10), pay Rs 10 extra if you are taking the 10.40 pm Metro. The ‘night' special Metro was introduced on the North-South corridor's Dum Dum-New Garia stretch on May 24 this year. From June 24, the carrier advanced the last train timing by 20 minutes on the pretext of low passenger count.
Six months later, on Monday, Metro Railway announced that "occupancy of the special pair of Metro services run at 10.40 pm from New Garia (Kavi Subhas) to Dum Dum is very poor". Therefore, a Rs 10 surcharge will be added to every ticket irrespective of the distance travelled. "The revised fare is being introduced from Dec 10," a Metro spokesperson said.
Therefore, someone paying Rs 5 for travelling just one stop or the minimum 2 km will now have to cough up Rs 15. Similarly, commuters paying Rs 25 for a ride between New Garia and Dum Dum will be charged Rs 35.
Though Metro has been iterating on the low footfall for the night services, many have grown dependent on it. Anuj Sen Sharma, accountant in a chemist shop at Esplanade who is now used to the 10.40 pm train to take him home (Tollygunge), said, "Why does the Metro keep harping on the low footfall vis-a-vis the 10.40 pm services? I wouldn't mind paying the extra Rs 10, provided they continue with the services."
More than one passenger told TOI that their experience suggested that the Metro authorities were not too keen on running the 10.40 pm trains. "First, they withdrew the 11 pm services. Just when we thought the 10.40 pm is here to stay, here comes another announcement," said Bikash Das, a commuter who takes the 10.40 pm train to Kalighat from Shyambazar.
"How can they hike up the fare just like that?" asked Barun Pal, another commuter. "If there are fewer passengers, the failure is on the part of the authorities. There is an hour gap between the last and the special night service. No other Metro system would come up with such a ridiculous idea," said Subhasis Sengupta, vice-president, INTTUC-affiliated Metro Railway's Progotisil Sramik Karmachari Union.
"Instead of penalizing the commuters, a continuous service should be introduced. Officials have chosen to turn a deaf ear to our repeated pleas. The staff don't mind working all night – in three shifts instead of two. This way, they won't have to worry about the lack of buses or trains at midnight," Sengupta said.
A Metro official explained: "We are spending around Rs 2.7 lakh as running cost, along with Rs 50,000 as other expenses, each day for the two special night trains. In return, the daily earnings from the two trains have been very dismal."