A 23-km journey that takes around 45 minutes by Metro, without the uncertainty of road traffic, is certainly attractive. Pune’s new Hinjewadi-Shivajinagar Metro corridor has generated considerable excitement, particularly among IT professionals who have spent years negotiating the notorious traffic congestion in the city’s western corridor. But there is a larger question that will determine whether the new service becomes a preferred mode of daily transport: how much time does a commuter actually save travelling from home to work and back?
Public transport efficiency cannot be judged by the time a train takes to travel between two stations. It has to be assessed on an end-to-end basis – from the moment a person leaves home to the time they reach their workplace, and the reverse journey in the evening. On this count, Pune’s Metro network still has considerable ground to cover. Last-mile connectivity is an obvious problem. A commuter living in a housing society several kilometres from the nearest Metro station must first arrange transport to reach the station. This could mean taking an auto-rickshaw, using a two-wheeler, booking a cab or waiting for a feeder bus. The same exercise has to be repeated after alighting at the destination station to reach the workplace. This does not mean that stations should be skipped or passenger convenience compromised. Rather, authorities must examine whether dwell times can be reduced through better crowd management, efficient boarding and alighting, and improved station operations. Train frequency also matters.
Even with a journey time of 45 minutes, a commuter who misses a train and waits another five or 10 minutes has already added to the daily travel time.
