The MahaMetro has said that the Pune Metro services will soon start at 6 am instead of 7 am for the convenience of college students and commuters who travel long distances and rely on Pune railway station and Shivajinagar stations. It is the one implementing the Pune Metro project. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has asked the MahaMetro officials to further strengthen the metro service. He travelled via the Pune Metro from Ruby Hall Clinic to Vanaz and back on Saturday.
Commuters’ demand for early timing
In an interaction with reporters during his metro ride, Pawar noted that the commuters are demanding that the Pune Metro should be run from 6 am in order to reach their destinations on time. “The MahaMetro should take all steps to strengthen its network,” he added.
MahaMetro Chairman and MD, Sharvan Hardikar, told The Indian Express that they are considering starting the services at 6 am given the demand from the commuters.
“Commuters who have to catch long-distance trains from Pune railway station and students whose colleges start early morning are demanding that our service should start around 6 am,” he said. As per Hardikar, over 1.5 lakh commuters had travelled via the Pune Metro services on both the routes, Pimpri to Shivajinagar Civil Court and Vanaz to Ruby Hall Clinic, last week on Saturday and Sunday.
“After that in the last four-five days, around 38,000 commuters have travelled every day on both the routes. And this figure is going to shoot up further in the coming days,” he said.
MahaMetro is also studying the timings of government and private offices and the timings of colleges, along with the timings of long-distance trains from Pune and Shivajinagar stations, Hardikar said. He added that they will take appropriate steps for the convenience of the commuters. “We will ensure that commuters get the Metro train at the timings they are looking at so that they can reach their destination ahead of time,” he noted.