Chennai: Two years might have passed since Metro arrived in Chennai but problems that commuters face since it was thrown open to the public continue to persist, despite 28km of the Metro being operational.
Passengers catching flights from the Chennai International Airport are unhappy with the Metro rail service as the shuttle bus service connecting the metro station and the airport is inadequate. This entails passengers carrying their luggage and walking for 15 minutes to reach the airport.
“I carried my baggage from the airport to the station as I was not aware of the shuttle service timings. Further, the works are still going on making the stretch inaccessible,” said C.R. Sreeraj, scientist, Ministry of Environment and Forest.
Taking a cab would have been a lot easier and the ticket price to the airport is also high, rued M.E. Ramesh who had come to drop his friend. He added that the ticket prices in other metro rail services were cheap when compared to CMRL.
Differently-abled passengers are also unhappy with the metro services. “My wheelchair got stuck between the platform and the wagon as there is no uniformity in height between the station and the wagon,” V.S. Ummul, a physically challenged person said, after her maiden journey experience.
Another issue the commuters complained to DC about had to do with the parking fees charged at Metro stations. The commuters have to pay Rs 500 for four-wheelers and Rs 250 for two-wheelers for a monthly parking pass.
However, the pass is not applicable on night halts where commuters have to pay night halt rates, which are exorbitant. Some of the metro stations lacked sufficient parking space.
However, R. Mohan, a retired government staff said the pricing was justified as the government had invested a lot in the project and he expected the rates to go down after a few months. Senior officials of Chennai Metro Rail were not available for their comments.
