Kolkata: Around two weeks after starting the commercial Metro services between Howrah Maidan to Esplanade Metro stations of the East-West Corridor (Green Line), signages were put up at Esplanade Station for passengers to avoid confusion in changing from Green Line to Blue Line (Kavi Subhash to Dakshineswar).
Esplanade Metro Station acts as an interchanging point between the two lines. With inauguration of a section of Green Line by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and thereafter starting of the commercial service, the number of commuters at Esplanade Station have increased magnificently.
On the same day, commercial services were started on two other Metro routes – Kavi Subhash to Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (Ruby) of Orange Line and Joka to Majerhat of Purple Line. The footfall in both these routes were less compared to the Green Line where on initial run over 60,000 commuters travelled and continued to attract 50,000 commuters on an average.
On the first day of commercial run, commuters cited inconvenience at many points in both Esplanade and Kavi Subhash Metro Station which are crucial changing points from Green Line and Orange Line to Blue Line respectively. They complained that proper signages were missing at places and that the system could be better to guide them on how to go from Green Line or Orange Line to Blue Line.
These signages at Esplanade Metro Station were put up recently. The staff there said that the signages have reduced confusion compared to the first week but people continue to remain perplexed. A staff reasoned that since the space of Esplanade Metro Station for the East-West Corridor is huge compared to the Blue Line section, hence people are getting confused on the
entry-exit points.