Mumbai Metro authorities don't see the need to increase coaches despite commuter rise

The Reliance Infrastructure-led Mumbai Metro One Private Ltd (MMOPL) that connects Versova and Ghatkopar has seen a monthly increase in its commuters, which has resulted in a call for an increase in the number of coaches from four to six. However, MMOPL authorities have said that there is no need for the same, reasoning that the saturation point had not been reached as yet.

Currently, there are 16 Metro trains that have four coaches that can be expanded to six coaches. In 2015, the average daily ridership was around 2.6 lakh, which increased to 3. lakh in 2016 on weekdays. However, this year, estimates show that the ridership is around 3.5 lakh on weekdays, with MMOPL announcing that November 2017 witnessed one crore commuters.

An MMOPL, spokesperson, said, “"We are closely watching the ridership trends. At present, we are confident of meeting the increased demand and do not feel the need for additional coaches. We will increase the coaches when the need arises."

A senior MMRDA official,  said, "The need to increase coaches will begin only once Dahisar-DN Nagar Metro-2A and DN Nagar-Mankhurd Metro-2B will be operational.”

The MMOPL's expenditure to operate Metro-1 stood at about Rs 1,500 crore between June 2014 and June 2017. However, the latter could merely earn about Rs 640 crore in the form of ticketing and non-ticketing revenue in that period. The MMRDA owns 26% stakes in Metro-1 along with MMOPL that has 69% stake followed by Veolia that has a 5% stake.