Pact to improve patronage in Kochi Metro, Water Metro getting delayed

Delay in signing MoU comes as metro's loss hovers at ₹1 crore/day and footfall yet to cross 1-lakh mark. Survey to study travelling patterns, tourism potential, connectivity, and parking lots.

Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) and the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC) are yet to ink a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a critical survey that had been planned earlier this year to identify ways to improve patronage in metro trains and Water Metro ferries and to revise the metro’s fare structure.

Critics have been pointing out that the delay has come at a time when the metro’s loss continued to hover at approximately ₹1 crore a day and the average daily footfall was yet to cross the 1-lakh mark despite the worsening traffic hold-ups on most arterial roads beneath the metro corridor. The patronage for Water Metro ferries too is yet to reach sustainable levels, mainly because their operations are confined to just the High Court-Vypeen and Vyttila-Kakkanad corridors and the Cochin Shipyard’s delay in rolling out ferries. The patronage for the ferries on Friday was 2,279, while they carried a total of 9.25 lakh passengers since their launch in April.

The two agencies were scheduled to ink the MoU in May to conduct a three-month-long study to identify measures to enhance patronage for the two modes of public transport. The core aspects of the survey were to study the travelling patterns of commuters and transit-oriented development (TOD) in the Greater Kochi area through which the metro and its waterway extension are envisaged. It was also slated to estimate the Water Metro’s tourism potential, the need for seamless first- and last-mile public transport connectivity from metro stations and Water Metro terminals with the help of e-autos and e-buses, and the hewing out of adequate number of parking lots.

Informed sources said the signing of the MoU was necessary to finalise colleges and other institutions whose students would have to be roped in for the survey to assess high-in-demand feeder routes and integrating metro trains and ferries with other modes of commute.

“NATPAC submitted a preliminary report over a month ago, wherein the general demand was to rationalise the fare structure. As for the Water Metro, the director board had entrusted the KMRL Managing Director with powers to take a relook at the fares, if needed. Every effort will be made to arrive at a reasonable fare structure for both the systems based on the outcome of the survey,” said sources in the metro agency.

E. Sreedharan, former Principal Advisor to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), had reiterated that the metro’s fare structure was unaffordable for most people. The thumb rule was that any metro agency levying fare that is over 1.5 to two times the ordinary bus fare, was making a mistake, he had said, reacting to demand from various sections of people to rein in the fare to improve footfall.

Sudheer Babu, author of business management publications, and whose consultancy had conducted a survey among metro commuters and the public in 2017, said KMRL must aim to make the metro and Water Metro sustainable and at least reach break-even stage, if not profitable. “Six years since its commissioning, the metro has not become part of daily life and culture of most commuters in the Greater Kochi area, despite massive traffic snarls at junctions such as Edappally and Vyttila. It is, however, heartening that there is sound occupancy during during early morning and late evening hours when there is 50% fare discount and also during peak hours,” he added.