Chennai: Sale of special class tickets accounted for only 0.6 per cent of the total ticket sales for metro rail since June 2015, according to official data.
Since its launch in June last year, metro rail had sold over 27 lakh tickets till date. Of them, 15,352 special class tickets had been sold.
While CMRL is vying with other public transport to attract more passengers, the number of commuters using metro daily is a middling.
“There are not many users daily. During office hours in the morning and around 5 in the evening, the crowd is better,” said a security personnel.
Every metro train has one coach for special class, which provides travellers with cushioned seats. For this special journey, users have to spend double the fare than that of regular class.
While the minimum and maximum of a journey by metro rail for normal class costs Rs 10 and Rs 40, that for special class costs Rs 20 and Rs 80.
“The only difference between normal and special class is the cushioned seats. I don’t see the point in shelling out '80 for a journey that I could cover in half the money,” said Rama Krishnan, a frequent commuter.
“In a day, about 250 tickets for normal class are sold, while there are hardly 50 buyers for special class tickets,” said a ticketing personnel from BVG India Services, who works at the ticketing kiosk at Ekkattuthangal.
“The travellers in regular coaches itself are not many. Once, the other metro lines are ready, we might see an increase in commuters,” said a CMRL official.
