Bengaluru Purple Line: Steady rise in metro ridership but poor headway, long lines at stations

Metro ridership rose to nearly 7 lakh on Monday, the first day of the opening of the entire Purple Line, and was slated to breach the mark on the second day. 

Ridership more than doubled between Whitefield (Kadugodi) and Baiyappanahalli as passengers embraced the completion of the missing link (KR Pura-Baiyappanahalli). 

But higher ridership resulted in long queues at many stations. Passengers complained of low headway and poor crowd management. 

As per data provided by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), metro trains ferried 6,80,894 passengers on Monday, including 61,179 between Whitefield and Baiyappanahalli. 

Before the missing link opened, the average daily ridership between Whitefield and KR Pura was 28,000, BMRCL Managing Director Anjum Parwez said. 

Tuesday's ridership (until 10 pm) stood at 6,53,397 and is expected to add 50,000 more in the remaining two hours of the train service. The Whitefield-Baiyappanahalli ridership was 70,120. 

For context, ridership was 6,69,037 on September 25 and 5,98,903 on October 3. 

With the Purple Line fully operational, Namma Metro expects its average daily ridership to touch 7.5 lakh. 

33 trainsets, six coaches

The BMRCL says it's running 33 trainsets of six coaches each on the Purple Line that make 180 trips a day. But the rush was so huge that the BMRCL had to run even Green Line trains on the Purple Line. 

The BMRCL has 57 six-coach trainsets in all. Six to seven trains are usually kept aside for maintenance and other contingencies. 

Passengers travelling from Pattandur Agrahara complained that the headway during morning rush hours to Mysuru Road was 10 minutes, as against the 5 minutes as  promised by the BMRCL. 

Located right across the ITPL, Pattandur Agrahara is a key station as it caters to many IT professionals. 

Due to the rush, women travellers found it difficult to board the first available train at many stations, including Majestic. While the BMRCL has reserved one coach on each train for women, they often find it difficult to get into the remaining five compartments during rush hours. 

Ridership fall in Sept

Namma Metro's average daily ridership fell in September to under 6 lakh, possibly because of three bandhs (September 10, 26 and 29) and public holidays. 

On average, only 5,86,325 passengers travelled by metro per day in September. In contrast, the average daily ridership hit a record 6,24,502 in August. 

Man on viaduct spooks many

Reacting to a viral picture that showed a man without a uniform or safety gear standing on the metro viaduct between Benniganahalli and KR Pura on Tuesday, the BMRCL said he was an "authorised competent maintainer". 

Namma Metro's Chief Public Relations Officer BS Yashavanth Chavan said: "He is a BMRCL authorised competent maintainer who was in the uniform of a trainee along with a competent JE (junior engineer). They were deputed to check that location after following all safety procedures."