Mumbai: Motorists turning to Metro?

This picture has been used for representational purpose only

Going by the official ridership figures, it is likely that commuters, whose options were limited by the closure of Gokhale bridge on Monday, took the Metro to work. Until evening, there was a rise in footfall at stations near the now-shut bridge in comparison to last week, said a spokesperson.

"The overall ridership improved by around 11,000 when compared to last Monday. The ridership of Azad Nagar Metro improved by 26% and the ridership of stations to the west of Andheri [like Versova, D N Nagar and Azad Nagar] improved by 17 per cent. This is the ridership update until 5 pm today [November 7]," the Metro spokesperson said.

Also read: Mumbai: Andheri residents take matters into own hands

Officials of the Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd (MMOPL) or Blue Line 1 had earlier told mid-day that if needed, they would keep one train on standby, as they anticipated footfall to rise by 20,000. "We had successfully accommodated additional commuters when the bridge was first partially closed in July 2018," he had said.

Metro commuter Rajan Iyer said that he witnessed increased crowds on the station premises on Monday. "I could not immediately connect them with the closure of Gokhale bridge, but it could be a possibility for sure," he added.

‘Open rail overbridge'

Andheri residents said that Western Railway should also allow pedestrians to use one of their bridges for east-west connectivity. "Railways should be told to do this as the public foot overbridge is at the north end. One bridge that pedestrians can use for east-west connectivity without buying tickets should be kept open at the Churchgate-end of Andheri station. It would be of immense help to commuters at least until the Gokhale bridge is shut," said a commuter.

Annapurna Mahaswain.
Civic activist Godfrey Pimenta said he has written to the civic and railways authorities, demanding that the state government and the BMC make a proposal to Western Railway for allowing pedestrian movement on the southbound rail bridge. WR can allow school and college students and senior citizens on the bridge.

With inputs from Sameer Surve