Kolkata: After the initial fanfare around the first day of Joka-Taratala Metro ride, which amounted up to 5003 commuters, the footfall at the end of the week has dropped to 3,000 commuters per day.
The commercial services of the much-awaited Metro line, which is part of the Joka-Esplanade Metro stretch, began from January 2. This Metro line has six stations, including Joka, Thakurpukur, Sakherbazar, Behala Chowrasta, Behala Bazar and Taratala.
However, services commenced on the One Train Only System basis, which means that a Metro will leave the source station and reach the destination, and then return on the same line with the process continuing in a similar manner. Thus, the wait time for the commuters who have missed the source train from Joka or any other station to the destination increases significantly.
Moreover, the services begin from 10 am, which is not very convenient for most office workers who have an urgency to reach their destinations and cannot wait for such a prolonged period. The last Metro train leaves at 5:30 pm on this route and the services are available every hour. Therefore, for many commuters the Metro, which started as a promise to replace the need for auto services, is no longer a viable option.
Hence, these commuters continue to travel via autos which has an already established route on the Diamond Harbour Road. There are already 700 autos plying daily on this stretch. The route costs Rs 20 via Metro but the price of travel increases up to Rs 30 to Rs 35 as commuters have to change multiple autos on the same route. Many passengers had hoped that the Metro services would reduce this high-handedness of autos. However, most of them think that the need will not be met by running one train per hour.