More feeder buses likely on Thripunithura metro station-Infopark stretch

New air-conditioned CNG feeder bus service between Thripunithura metro station and Infopark improves last-mile connectivity.

Even as a proposal to ready a metro extension or a tram service to link the Thripunithura metro station with Infopark is yet to pick up steam, an air-conditioned CNG feeder bus has begun service between the two spots.

In January, Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) had rolled out 15 air-conditioned electric feeder buses that have ever since been operating services from metro stations in the city, Kalamassery, Aluva, and Kakkanad to Infopark and the international airport.

The fare per passenger for the Thripunithura metro station-Infopark service, a long-pending demand of Infopark employees and many others, is ₹60. The services in the corridor will begin early in the morning (barring Sunday) from the Thripunithura metro station and end late in the evening. There will be eight services a day in the corridor, sources said.

KMRL has leased out the CNG-run bus for operating between the two municipal towns for a period of six months through a tendering process. While passenger patronage is catching up, more such services could be introduced in keeping with the demand. Apart from linking the two key locales, the service will also improve the much-needed last-mile connectivity from them, it is learnt.

The feeder bus operating from the metro’s Thripunithura terminal station has been welcomed by various organisations, including the Thripunithura Rajanagari Union of Residents’ Associations, which has been demanding road connectivity from the station to the road that leads to the Hill Palace.

The metro agency is, in the meantime, making efforts to increase the number of feeder e-buses to augment last-mile connectivity from different metro stations to nearby commercial and residential areas, sources said.

On widespread complaints about the metro agency’s delay in commencing operation of e-buses it had assured earlier this year to Panampilly Nagar, sources said it would be done once the operation of the existing fleet of 13 feeder buses was re-arranged in a more feasible manner. The two other buses have been kept as spare buses to step in if need arose.