Hyderabad Metro Rail patronage reaches 2.20 lakh

The overall patronage of Metro Rail after the commencement of services to Hitec City has increased from previous 1.80 lakh per day to 2.20 lakh plus.

The Metro services on Ameerpet-Hitec City route were launched on March 20 and on Monday, the overall patronage of the services logged at 2.21 lakh. Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) officials expect the patronage to increase further once the first and last mile connectivity was established.

 

Accordingly, HMRL on Tuesday convened a meeting with the representatives of IT and ITES companies to discuss different aspect pertaining to first and last mile connectivity at Metro stations.

Speaking at the meeting which was attended by 40 representatives, HMRL Managing Director, NVS Reddy suggested them to convert their current long distance feeder buses being operated beyond LB Nagar, Uppal, Miyapur etc into short shuttle services between Metro stations such as Hitec City and Durgam Cheruvu to the IT campuses covering about four or five km radius.

Similarly, he said services between stations such as LB Nagar, Dilsukhnagar, Nagole,



Uppal and Miyapur could be operated to the nearby colonies. This will facilitate the employees to complete the journey comfortably in Metro services and reach home in the feeder services.

Reddy assured that necessary permissions and parking places for the feeder services at the stations will be provided for the companies.

Citing availability of parking space at Durgam Cheruvu, Hitec City (cellar of Hitec Mall) and Madhapur stations, Metro officials wanted the companies to earmark some parking space on their respective campuses for feeder services parking.

Responding positively, some of the companies including Novartis and KonyLabs said they would commence short distance feeder services from Hitec City and Durgamcheruvu stations to their campuses in a few days. The other companies also appreciated the proposal and stated that they would follow suit at the earliest.

On the appeal for introduction of monthly passes and ‘station to station trip’ passes, L&TMRHL MD KVB Reddy promised they would be introduced soon.