Mumbai local trains: Why monthly pass even for one trip, ask commuters

Citizens get vaccination certificates authenticated at Borivli station on Monday

As the railways gears up for the crowds today after a long weekend, fully vaccinated commuters have been building pressure on the government to get daily tickets issued. They say it is unfair to be compelled to buy a monthly pass even if one wants to make a single trip in the entire month. Railway officials say they are following the directive of the state government, which wants to monitor the situation before allowing more relaxations.

"Why just a monthly pass, why not a single ticket? If I travel to different parts of the city, should I be buying different monthly passes for each route? This is all madness and the government should be taking more practical decisions. It is very unfair to force commuters to buy a monthly pass even if one needs to travel just a few times," said Ashley Lobo.

A local train on Monday. Pics/Satej Shinde

"What about those who need to travel only once or twice in a week and they are eligible to travel on local trains after being fully vaccinated? Why are single tickets not allowed for fully vaccinated if they need to travel beyond their monthly pass limit?" questioned commuter Adarsh Tiwari.

Arpita Naik, a marketing executive, was equally miffed. "A monthly pass means that I am restricted to a particular route and cannot go beyond that even if duty calls. It becomes very difficult for marketing people like us who have appointments in multiple parts of the city. We are fully vaccinated, then why these limitations?"

Also read: Mumbai local trains: Why monthly pass even for one trip, ask commuters

Dombivli resident Ashwini Bapat too finds the vax rule a bit absurd. "I just want to make a trip to the city and come back. Then why should I burden myself with a monthly pass? I am not going to travel every day and taking the road will cost me a bomb. I am fully vaccinated and it means nothing if I cannot travel by local train due to such odd rules," said Bapat, an office executive.

A commuter gets his papers verified at a BMC booth at Mahim station on Aug 12. Pic/Ashish Raje

Railway officials said they are issuing the monthly tickets as per the Maharashtra government's unlock guidelines. "No single journey tickets will be issued to fully vaccinated commuters unless you have a connecting outstation train with a valid ticket. The old system of essential workers' access to Mumbai local trains continues," a senior railway official said.

The state government has said that given the threat of the third wave, they will assess the situation after a month and then take any further decision on local train access.

15
Day in Aug when fully vaxxed were allowed to use local trains