Sudden reduction in the metro train patronage in Chennai!!
Posted on: 06/Feb/2024 9:22:19 AM
Gone are the days when many passengers took the metro trains to reach Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus or CMBT in Koyambedu and then took buses from Koyambedu to their destinations in Tamil Nadu. Now, the bus operations have been shifted to Kilambakkam in the southern part of Chennai is known.
It is now said that after the outstation bus operations shifted from the CMBT in Koyambedu to Kalaignar Centenary Bus Terminus or KCBT in Kilambakkam there has been a dip in the metro train patronage. It is known to us that metro train patronage witnessed steady increase after the Coronavirus pandemic. This reduced patronage has surprised many now.
According to an official from CMRL, in January 2024, the monthly ridership dropped by 6000 passengers when the metro registered total footfalls of 85lakhs when compared to December 2023. He added that there has been no significant drop in the patronage and hoped that the patronage doesn`t drop further.
It must be taken into note that many passengers preferred metro trains to go to CMBT in Koyambedu because these metro trains were fast. Point is that 100 feet roads used to be clogged with traffic in the evenings when most buses would depart from CMBT. From the Chennai airport, many passengers from both domestic and abroad would take metro trains to reach CMBT and then would board buses to places like Madurai, Tenkasi, Tirunelveli etc.
As per a frequent commuter it was clear that CMBT in Koyambedu was a multi-modal hub for the metro trains and in CMBT those who used MTC and outstation buses converged. It is known that from 1st January onwards outstation buses were shifted to KCBT in Kilambakkam and about 1000 buses began their operations from Kilambakkam. On the weekdays, another 600 buses operate from Kilambakkam and the number touches 1000 on the weekends.
Currently, metro trains record a daily average of 2.73lakhs passengers and this is twice the footfalls that were recorded before the Coronavirus pandemic. At that time, the daily average was 1.16 lakhs.
