Metro Lines 7 and Line 2A were inaugurated in January this year in Mumbai. Afterwards, a significant change has been observed in the western express highway. The congestion of traffic was a problem, which was regularly creating hectic situations on the road.
These metro lines connect Dahisar and Andheri in Mumbai and have played a good role in reducing the traffic congestion on this highway and SV roads.
Along with reducing traffic congestion, people’s travel time also got reduced.
Challenges:
But there is another problem, what metro users are facing these days. The problem is overcharged fares by auto drivers. When people exit from the station, they have to take an auto-rickshaw to reach their destination.
This last mile step of reaching the destination has become a time taking issue because the auto drivers are charging fares beyond the standard charges. Most auto-rickshaws are equipped with Metres, but the drivers are not considering the charges according to metre readings.
Solutions:
After observing grievances for this issue outside of Metro stations, the Mumbai Transport Department is initiating a programme regarding overcoming the issue. The objective of this programme is to ease last-mile connectivity for users. The metro stations between lines 2A and 7 are being surveyed.
Once the survey is done, the several share auto rates will be finalised through the programme. Along with Mumbai Transport Department, the Traffic Police, Brihanmumbai municipal corporation (BMC), and Regional Transport Office (RTO) are also coming forward to solve this issue. The above departments have collaborated and worked in the same direction to complete surveys and finalise the auto rates. The authorities have decided to link each station with at least 3 share auto rates.
Except that, to assure the comfort of metro users, one more sub-initiative is about to be executed. 3000 auto rickshaws will be launched specifically for the routes nearby Metro 7 and 2A lines. According to this plan, approximately 50,000 travellers or users will feel comfortable during their journey from the metro to their last mile.
However, the scheme is not biased that it will benefit only users; it will also benefit auto drivers. Overall, auto drivers will observe an increase of 33% in the collected fares.
The Rs.10 is the base fare for an individual on each feeder route.
The programme initiated by the Mumbai Transport Department and assisted by the RTO, BMC and traffic police is going to be a significant step towards providing ease to the users.