Lack of patronage forces Metro Railway to do away with late evening service in Kolkata
Kolkata: The Metro Railway in Kolkata has decided to do away with its late evening service a month after its launch, citing poor patronage and heavy losses.
Kolkata Metro started running a pair of trains along its Blue Line at 11 p.m. on May 24 this year. While one started from Dum Dum, the other originated from Kavi Subhash station.
The decision was taken after a PIL was moved in the Calcutta high court praying for directions to Metro authorities to run trains at 11 p.m. The high court did not pass any directions but urged the Metro to look into the matter.
“Though these services were introduced to cater to what we thought would be a large number of people at night, it has been observed that they are not being patronised by the commuters. On average, only 300 passengers were travelling in each train at night after 11 p.m. between Dumdum and Kavi Subhash.
“To run this service, Metro Railway has been incurring huge expenses (around Rs 2.7 lakh as running cost along with Rs 50,000 as other expenses per day), but revenue earnings from these two trains have been dismal (only Rs 6,000).
“It has also been observed that in many stations, only 1-2 tokens are being sold while a counter has to remain open at all stations even after 11 p.m.,” said Kausik Mitra, CPRO, Metro Railway.
From Monday (June 24) onwards, the night service will start at 10.40 p.m. from either end. This service will be available during weekdays. No ticket counter will remain open to issue tokens or smart cards for the late-night service. Commuters can purchase tokens from the ASCRM machines installed at all stations by using the UPI payment mode. Those who have smart cards can avail the service as well.
Commuters said the biggest problem with availing of the late-night Metro is the lack of last-mile connectivity from the station closest to their homes. While Metro took up the challenge, road transport operators refused to extend their service timings.