The daily footfalls of the college students in the metro trains in Chennai are 32% now.
To further improve the patronage in the metro trains in Chennai, the CMRL officers now are busy conducting surveys among the students studying in the colleges. Point is that these officers have identified as manya s 28 colleges in Chennai that are within 1km radius of all 41 metro stations.
It was later revealed by an official belonging to CMRL that they have been collecting details like students daily commute from and to their colleges, distance from home to colleges to the nearest metro station etc. To provide easy transport from home to the colleges and back to their homes, suggestions are being asked from the students. This included the first and last mile connectivity etc.
It is learnt that the daily average footfalls is at 2.5lakhs currently and during festivals/weekends it rises up to 2.8lakhs. From about 66lakhs in January 2023 to 74lakhs in June 2023, the monthly footfalls grew by about 10lakhs.
According to a metro train user from Kilpauk metro station to Anna Nagar east metro station, it was clear that the metro trains are usually crowded in the mornings. She added that the metro stations are just 500m from her colleges and it was very easy to walk to the station. She concluded that share autos or some other service would be very helpful for many students during exams and during rainy days etc.
The CMRL does not have a plan to issue students passes and this was highlighted by CMRL spokesperson Mr. L. Girirajan. He spoke about how CMRL might distribute free non-transferable tickets to the students. According to an officer, CMRL is facing a huge loss now. He mentioned that CMRL has got powers to offer discounts upto 20% only. Board`s approval was essential for discounts more than 20percent.