Pune: The debut of Metro Pink Line’s public operations on Wednesday gave IT professionals Anita Jangid and Sharanmeet Garcha relief from the daily traffic woes, but their smooth first ride ended with a search for last-mile connectivity.“The biggest relief is that we no longer have to deal with the stress of driving and navigating through traffic. You can see the traffic piling up below and still feel good knowing that you are not a part of it,” Anita said, after travelling from R K Laxman station to Maan in about 20 minutes.On the flip side, Anita had to walk from home to R K Laxman station and again from the destination station Maan to her workplace. “Shuttle services would have made the experience even better,” she said.Metro will bring down the daily commuting cost of Sharanmeet, provided the last-mile connectivity improves. “I spent around Rs180 every day on travel. With the Metro, my expenses will come down to about Rs90. That’s almost half the cost, apart from the time and stress saved by avoiding traffic. Better feeder services are important to make the Metro easily accessible from home and workplace,” she said.Pavanjit Mane, the president of Forum for IT Employees, also flagged the need for better feeder services, pedestrian infrastructure and connections to IT hubs. He said the focus must now shift to making stations easily accessible to commuters. Metro ridership would increase if the remaining important stations serving IT parks in Baner became operational over the next couple of months, he said.“Balewadi High Street station, expected to serve around 50,000-60,000 IT employees in the Baner-Balewadi area, is likely to become operational in a month. We are working with Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) to introduce feeder services connecting large residential townships to Metro stations,” Mane said.PMPML has started Metro shuttle services on 12 routes. These connect residential areas such as Mahalunge-VTP, Joyville on Maan Road and Blue Ridge to Shivaji Chowk; Life Republic to Croma station; and PMR-2 to the Capgemini-Synechron area. Another route links Mahalunge-Sus to the Balewadi stadium area.Mane said pedestrian infrastructure was equally important. “The design work for footpaths is under way. The district collector will review it in the next two to three weeks. Work on the ground is expected to begin in the first or second week of Dec,” he said.“Feeder buses, footpaths and foot overbridges (FOBs) will encourage more people to use Metro and eventually help reduce traffic congestion on roads. FOBs at critical junctions need to be aligned with access routes to IT centres,” Mane said, adding that the district collector had told PMPML to assess the demand for an intercity bus transit hub in Wakad or MITCON-Balewadi station as part of the comprehensive mobility plan.Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) plans to work with PMPML, autorickshaw unions and other transport operators to connect Metro stations with office campuses and residential areas. Three foot overbridges have been provided at Wakad, Balewadi and Civil Court stations, while another has been planned at Shivajinagar.PMRDA and Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) have planned a Rs426-crore last-mile connectivity project for Hinjewadi. Both agencies are expected to contribute equally.An IT professional opting for a Pink Line ride on her way from Balewadi to Kalyaninagar on Wednesday is among several commuters looking forward to these initiatives. The new Metro line offered her a shorter alternative to her daily 90-minute road travel.The IT professional travelled by Metro from Balewadi to District Court and then took the other line towards Kalyaninagar. She found the journey relaxing, but sought better last-mile connections.
