A feeder service comprising buses and autorickshaws is being planned to bring commuters to their nearest Metro rail station once the entire network is ready and functional, Firhad Hakim, transport minister, said on Saturday.
“We are planning to feed the Metro network with buses and autorickshaws. Once all the Metro lines become functional (including East-West and the New Garia-Airport links), we would want commuters to use the Metro network for their daily commute,” Hakim said.
He was responding to an appeal from a senior resident of Paschim Putiari in Kudghat to start an autorickshaw service connecting the area with a Metro station.
The resident had called Hakim during Talk to Mayor session on Saturday to tell him how several residents were forced to hire rickshaws to reach their destination after alighting at Netaji Metro station because of lack of connectivity. “We have been waiting for connectivity for quite some time now.”
The mayor asked the caller to write to him on his WhatsApp number about the possible solutions.
“We would like more commuters to use the Metro link to reduce the vehicular load on Calcutta’s roads. A transport system is being developed to feed the metro networks like in London,” Hakim said. “In Mumbai, buses feed the stations.”
Apart from the existing north-south connection, the two ongoing Metro projects, including East-West and New Garia-Airport, are in different phases of their completion.
East-West now runs a truncated 6.6km service connecting Sector V to Phoolbagan.
The first phase of New Garia-Airport project covering EM Bypass and New Town spanning 5km between Ruby crossing and New Garia is scheduled to start its operation end-October.
Senior officials in the transport department said a survey had already begun to understand the possible rise in demand for transportation once the New Garia-Airport line becomes operational.
“To address the growing problem of traffic congestion, we need to have a transport service feeding these Metro networks,” Hakim said.
Rowing Win The Telegraph Picture
Rowers who did not have Rabindra Sarobar to practise bagged two gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze medal in the national championships that were held at Dal Lake in Srinagar between Thursday and Saturday.
The most crucial period when teams from Bengal needed to practise, Rabindra Sarobar was closed to all forms of the sport following the deaths of two students while they were practising for an inter-school regatta. The two students had died on May 21.
West Bengal Rowing Association secretary Aniruddha Mookerjee said the participants could practise only on land before the nationals.