Pune: Responding to demands to reduce crowding, the Metro administration said it would continue to operate trains every five minutes, shortening the interval to four minutes — if necessary.This decision would benefit hundreds of daily Metro passengers, who have frequently complained of onboard congestion during peak hours. In Sept, daily ridership on Pune’s Metros increased to 3.1 lakh. While the Metro administration attributed this increase to Ganeshotsav rush, sources conceded that there’s been an overall rise in passengers.Further, the administration expects ridership to increase further — by an estimated 50,000 over a few months — once service commences on the Shivajinagar-Hinjewadi line in the next few days.Maha Metro managing director Shravan Hardikar said the administration was taking steps to ease crowding on the trains. “We are also procuring more trains as footfalls are likely to go up in days to come; new routes are coming up, covering more areas.”Regular commuters urged Maha Metro to give serious thought to introducing six-coach trains on both operational routes — Vanaz to Ramwadi and Swargate to PCMC. “Initially, six-coach trains can run during peak hours. This will reduce overcrowding; people will get adequate space to sit and overall commuting will be easy,” Aadtiya Kale, a resident of Shivajinagar, suggested. All the stations have platforms to accommodate six-coach trains, so there shouldn’t be a technical problem.”Metro officials said a detailed project on operating six-coach trains was ready and would be sent to the Centre for approval. “We are prioritising running more trains at a frequency of four to three minutes,” an official said, adding that six-coach trains would be rolled out at a later stage.In Sept, Metro services in the city clocked 93.58 lakh passengers — the highest monthly ridership the two routes together recorded so far.
