A streamlined system to ensure first and last-mile connectivity continues to evade Kochi metro, about five years after the mass rapid transport system (MRTS), which entailed a capital investment of over ₹5,100 crore, was commissioned.
This was hitherto attributed to the metro agency and the operators of buses and autorickshaws being on different pages on the issue during the past couple of years. Faced with steep fall in footfalls in metro trains in the wake of the pandemic, efforts to rope in the two key public transport segments, online taxi aggregator platforms and e-scooters, gained momentum during the second half of 2021.
After innumerable delays, caused in part by the pandemic, Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) and Ernakulam Jilla Autorickshaw Drivers’ Cooperative Society (EJADCS), a collective comprising members of six autorickshaw driver unions, have joined hands to launch a fleet of 200 e-autos by mid-May, to operate feeder services from metro stations.
Metro sources said that charging and allied infrastructure will be readied in tandem with their launch.
The EJADCS is, in the meantime, hopeful of rolling out 80 e-autos which would operate from recharging stations that would be set up at Kadavanthra, Elamkulam and Fort Kochi, by around the same time. “Our trained drivers will man these e-autos which would be launched with financial assistance of the Kochi Corporation and German agency GIZ, and also the batch of 200 e-autos that the metro agency is slated to launch in mid-May,” said M.B. Syamantha Bhadran, one among the board members of the society.
Their fare will be similar to that of autos that run on fossil fuels and CNG. It would, however, vary in case they operate as share autos, he added.
Feeder buses
There is similar delay in introducing the entire fleet of 10 e-buses that KMRL intended to roll out in March under the banner of Kleen Smart Bus Ltd (KSBL) to operate feeder trips from metro stations. Only four of these buses are in operation now. The buses are encountering hiccups in the form of limited range – they need to be recharged every 130 km – including due to traffic snarls, although Automotive Research Association of India had certified that they can operate up to 200 km after full recharging. It was also observed that rainwater was trickling from the roof of a couple of these buses – probably due to damaged rubber beading, it is learnt.
The KMRL and KSBL have not yet reached a consensus on operating them on routes like the Vyttila-Edappally NH bypass. The metro agency had handed over two e-buses that have higher range, which operated under the banner of Pavan Dhoot in the Aluva-International Airport route, also to the agency. These buses can operate in a feasible manner if the metro agency extended financial help, readied charging points at terminal stations and helped streamline their routes, sources said.
With the detection of misalignment of track following sinking of the foundation of a metro pillar at Pathadipalam and the subsequent lessening of the frequency of metro services from a train every seven minutes to a train every 20 minutes on the Pathadipalam-Aluva route, commuters have been demanding that KMRL augment bus services on the route.
Passengers’ demand
Rajeev Soman, an aviation professional who resides near Desam, Aluva, and is a frequent commuter in KMRL’s Aluva-airport feeder buses, is among regular passengers who have been demanding more feeder buses and extension of their service hours to between 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. as well, in tandem with the timings of innumerable big aircraft which brought in 300 to 450 passengers at a time. “These e-buses will help lessen reliance on expensive taxi cars, furthering the image of CIAL as a green airport. This will also help lessen driver drowsiness-related accidents involving cars that ferry air passengers during night hours.”
Kochi needs to learn from how buses operate services to the Bengaluru airport at frequent intervals. There is also acute shortage of buses on the Aluva-Angamaly route after 8 p.m., leaving metro passengers stranded at the terminal station in Aluva, he added.
