Namma metro (our metro) – Bengaluru's public transport defining moment

My blogging journey has begun writing about my first journey on Bengaluru's metro train. Ironically, my blog is probably lengthier than the 4 wagon train that runs along the metro route. Part of the problem is my writing style lacks the soul of the wit, brevity. Anyway, I am taking a plunge into blogging after wriggling through lot of apprehensions and self-doubt, mostly inspired by a lot of people around me, who wanted me to post blogs. A big thank you to everyone who have coerced me to blog, over several years. Here is my maiden blog, about my maiden Namma Metro ride.

While I had promised myself, I would stay away from comparing Tokyo metro with Bengaluru metro, I am afraid, I may not have necessarily kept the promise. Reader’s discretion is advised, because, though I have made sincere attempt not to harm anyone’s sentiments, I know, I may fall short meeting those expectations.

One evening, after work, I decided to opt for metro ride, over my usual "Ola-ride". The nearest station “Sandal Soap factory” is stone’s throw away, from my workplace. In order to reach my destination, I had to take North-South, Green line and changeover at Majestic City Railway station to proceed my onward journey on East-West purple line. To be precise, I travelled from “Sandal Soap Factory” station on northern side of the city to “Mysore road” station on the West. The start was no less than stunning, the stations entry, exit and concourse were quite spacious and looked to be designed keeping in mind city’s burgeoning population. Escalators, security checks, CCTV’s, ample number of ticket counters and adequate support staff guiding the passengers to board trains on intended routes.

Without a timetable at hand, I was lucky to reach station just in time to catch the train to “Yelachenhalli”; this is the last station on the “Southern” end of the city, or the “green line”. The train was crowded, travellers inside the train were reluctant to make way for the passengers de-boarding the train and a commotion ensued. Passengers were frantically making their way out while those who wanted to continue the journey refused to get down, probably due to the fear of not being able to hop back on to the train, not knowing how long the train would halt. The lack of civic discipline was also evident on the platform among those who were waiting to board the train. Finally, everyone who wanted to get in was on-board and those who wanted to get down had landed safely on the platform. The train eventually moved, the pace was modest and the next station seemed stone’s throw away from where it had left. Every person standing in the train was on the lookout for the prized seats. The narrowest of the space was being availed to rest one’s bottoms. Amidst all this rush, I did see glimpses of courtesy being extended. I was happy to see some civic sense still being maintained when seats were offered to senior citizens or ladies.

After a while, I started to look around the coach, by this time, the train had deposited few people on the interim stations and seemed less crowded. The coach seemed very spacious, no-fuss, no-fancy, no-nonsense aesthetics   were appealing. The ease of use and minimalist, yet decent décor definitely ticked one of the boxes which I had set out to seek. Conspicuously missing was the space to tuck away small lug gauges/bags above the seats. May be BMRCL wants to suggest, we will carry you and you carry your bags. The next thing which caught my eye was the route map. Few station names were neatly printed, and a lot more were “made-up”, these were really “long” names, much akin to the South Indian names, which appear a mile long when the initials are expanded to reveal the name of the village, town, zilla, city, family and forefathers, exhibiting their glorious descendants. I don’t understand our fascination to be “politically” correct or “pleasingly extempore” about our historical icons, past poets or living saints. While, I am definitely one who would want to be guardian of our heritage and culture, I am against using their names where it is not suited. How do the following names sound, “Krantiveer Sangoli Rayanna station”, “Mahakavi Kuvempu road station” & “Sri Balgangadharnath Swamiji station, Hosahalli”, “Dr Bheemrao Ambedkar Station, Vidhan Soudha”. I am not trying to demean their significance or contribution to the society, it is indeed unquestionable. These are stalwarts, worthy of all the praise and worship. However great these names are, the fact they are used to name stations defeats the very purpose of naming them, because, eventually people will pronounce only half of it or make an abbreviation of the name. I honestly feel we should avoid politicizing and stop appeasing while naming stations. The name should be one word, like a lot of the other names, which is the name of the place, like “Rajajinagar”, “Vijaynagar” or “Malleshwaram”, “Jayanagar” etc. We should definitely drop “Sri Balgangadharnath Swamiji” from “Hoshalli” station. I don’t have any personal qualms against the revered saint, but it doesn’t make any sense to prefix the name against the name of the place.    The name “Sandal Soap Factory” is equally annoying, though it is a landmark around the area where the station is built, we could have as well named it as “ISKCON Temple”. Let me clarify, I don’t have any affiliations with ISKCON.  I think this is enough to emphasize my disgruntled feelings about station names on metro routes. On a lighter note, some of the station names seem like postal address.

I would like to also highlight the good things, the stations looked spick and span, broad passageways, stairs, escalators and elevators all functional and well maintained. The change-over at city railway station was hassle free, although a bit more sign-boards and detailed directions would have helped. I could see a lot of people asking for directions to the support staff, mostly security in-charge, either about the exits or the change-over platforms on the concourse. At city railway station, the security guards at each wagon door had ensured the passengers boarding the trains were standing in two lines, making way for the passengers alighting to switch lines for their onward journey.  Though this was forced discipline as against self-disciplined metro travelers in Tokyo, I quite liked the fact that, at least at the changeover station, crowd management had been given due diligence. The other good aspect, until the change-over station, all the platforms were on the left side. The same side doors opened up throughout, this was in stark contrast to my “local train” experience in sub-urban Mumbai train lines.  I was also happy listening to the announcement cautioning the public for being nuisance to co-passengers by “Listening to loud music/songs on the train”.

Overall, I was happy with my first metro ride, because, I reached my destination in flat 35 mins, which otherwise would have taken me more than 45 mins by road and even longer by a bus.

I hear, the trains are not being run at their top speeds yet and the frequency of trains is going to increase. I have been also informed, more coaches being added to cater to the growing number of commuters. I don’t have the slightest doubt, going forward; Namma Metro lines will play a very vital role in alleviating commuting problems of the residents of this beautiful city. I hope, we all have a safe travel, take care of maintaining this public place clean and neat.

Pros

•      Spacious and well maintained stations, concourse and overall BMRCL premises
•      Wagons/coaches are also decent sized and have modest aesthetics

Cons

•         Last mile connectivity remains the biggest constraint, even though Metro Feeder        buses ferry passengers to the nearest stations, the reach isn’t wide enough
•         Directions, sign-boards and exits need to be more prominent and precise   

Suggestions

•         It won’t hurt BMRCL to reach out to commuters and conduct or publish etiquette      lessons while travelling on Metro trains.
•      BMRCL should collaborate with schools to conduct visits and educational tours to      encourage students to use public transport and also learn the etiquette's at a            young age