The reason behind low ridership in Mumbai local trains

Commuters at Andheri railway station on August 17. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

Five days on, the number of commuters on suburban trains in the city hasn't increased much. People attribute the low response to two key things - they have demanded issuance of single-journey tickets and resumption of the main line suburban MEMU trains of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) between Diva-Panvel and Vasai. Over the past five days, the number of commuters have remained between 32 lakh and 35 lakh daily.

Over the past five days, the number of commuters have remained between 32 lakh and 35 lakh daily. Commuters from Dahanu have now approached the local Member of Parliament and Minister of State for Panchayati Raj, Kapil Patil, with the demands.

Commuters on a local train at Sion station on Friday. Pic/Atul Kamble

"The numbers will not rise till railways address the two issues. It is the mainline commuters from far-off suburbs that have been suffering. By taking a monthly season pass, commuters are stuck with one single corridor and are limited in the commute. If the railways resume operations of MEMU trains, it would be of immense help," Satyawan Tripathi, a commuter said.

Also Read: Mumbai local trains open, but footfall doesn't rise significantly

‘Start these trains, too'

Another commuter, Lalit Sankhe said, "All suburban routes are now running normally. Then why not start the Diva-Vasai route as well? We have been requesting to start 69164 Dahanu-Panvel MEMU train and 69161 Panvel-Dahanu MEMU train and Diva-Vasai MEMU train services."

Commuters at Andheri station on August 17. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

Letter to minister

"After lockdown in March 2020, railway services were stopped. After some time, services were started for essential workers, but Panvel- Dahanu Road and Boisar-Diva MEMU trains remained unattended. Many commuters, including essential workers, were taking these trains to travel from Dahanu Road-Virar belt to Virar, and from Virar to Diva, Panvel, etc.," Advocate Prathamesh Prabhutendolkar, joint secretary of the Dahanu Vaitarna Pravasi Sevabhavi Sanstha, said in the letter to Patil. The letter also said, "Currently, all these commuters are travelling via Dadar-Kurla or Bandra-Panvel routes. If the Dahanu Road-Panvel and Boisar-Diva services are started, at least some of the crowd will be diverted. These services are considered the fastest link between Central Railway and Western Railway, reducing travel time."

‘Following govt rules'

Railway officials said they have been strictly following Maharashtra government's guidelines, and that they have specific instructions to only issue monthly season tickets for now.

80 lakh
Approx no. of daily commuters before the pandemic