When a mid-day reporter posed as a commuter trying to find an auto rickshaw to reach Terminal 2 from Airport Road station, it took her 20 minutes to convince an auto driver to travel the 1.6 km distance
While the city’s Metro and Monorail were planned and designed to improve integrated transport system in Mumbai, the ground reality has not changed much for commuters. Travellers who hoped that the Airport Road station of Metro line 1 would help them reach the international airport (T2) faster have been left disappointed.
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mid-day reporter Neha Tripathi had to run behind auto rickshaws for 20 minutes, trying to convince the driver to take her to the airport. Pic/Nimesh Dave
Last week, this mid-day reporter posed as a commuter trying to reach the airport. However, it proved to be a tough task to convince an auto rickshaw driver to take her to Terminal 2. It took 20 minutes of waiting to find a driver willing to travel the 1.6 km (distance between the Metro station and T2).
Starting from 2.55 pm, this reporter finally managed to find a willing auto rickshaw driver at 3.15 pm who dropped her at the city’s international airport. When asked, an auto driver said, “We usually don’t ferry passengers to T2 since there is no parking space for us. Moreover, we have to get in a queue to be able to get passengers from the airport.”
Another auto driver revealed, “In case a passenger from T2 gets in an auto which is not in queue, the traffic cops at the exit of the airport impose heavy penalty on us. Therefore, we choose to stay away from the airport, as we hardly get more than the minimum fare from it.”