By end of 2018, commuters can book shared cabs at any metro station in Chennai
Posted on: 20/Oct/2018 9:54:07 AM
People are finding it difficult to reach their places of destination after getting down from metro rail in Chennai. This last mile connectivity would not be an issue anymore. It is now brought out that by the end of 2018 people coming out of any metro station in Chennai would be able to get shared metro cab to reach their places of destination. It is clear that soon CMRL or Chennai Metropolitan Rail Limited would be introducing shared cab services in all the metro stations in Chennai. By this the commuters would be able to book cabs through exclusive mobile app and they could pay the amount by means of metro rail smart cards.
An official belonging to metro rail expressed his views on the importance of the last mile connectivity for the commuters. He spoke about how for the sake of uniform last mile connectivity 120 cabs would be introduced across 32 metro stations in Chennai. It is important to mention that the cab booking application that would be integrated with the metro rail application would work like the existing cab aggregator app. First, the metro rail mobile app must be opened by the commuters then they have to search and book the nearest vehicle available. Once the commuters reach their places of destination by the cab then they could swipe the smart card to pay for their travel. The official later explained about how the metro rail had floated tenders in search out for a company to operate the cab service. He then added that currently the process is in pre-bid stage. Bigger cars would be provided by the metro rail and as many as 6 passengers would be able to travel in the cab. In the month of August, metro rail launched share taxi and share auto services in 13 metro stations on a 6 month trial basis are well known. It is amazing to note that nearly 47000 passengers used cabs and autos to reach their places of destination.
As many as 7900 passengers used feeder services at the Koyambedu and Alandur metro stations and these 2 metro stations attract highest footfalls. Presently Rs 10 is collected as a flat rate from the people who use share auto and Rs 15 is the amount for those using taxi. The existing service operates on a 3km radius only. By the upcoming new service it is possible for a commuter to travel up to 5km and for that they need to pay just half the amount. Setting route from and to every metro station for the vehicles to follow and the commuters could come closer to the route and book the nearest vehicle. This was confirmed by the official of CMRL.
