Bengaluru Metro project on track

Bengaluru: The Bengaluru metro rail project is on track to complete 175 km of commute in the city by June 2025, according to Anjum Parwez, Managing Director, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd.

Addressing a session on 'the future of mobility' at the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2022 on Friday, BMRCL MD, Anjum Parwez said as part of the second and third phase of the project, Bengaluru will have 314 km of metro rail connectivity by 2041. He said construction of metro lines is progressing well on the Airport side.

Anjum Parwez said the Namma Metro has recently gone digital with its payment options that include the use of QR code scans and UPI-based payment options which has met with good response from commuters. Also, he said there is no waiting time for passengers who are in a hurry as there is no need to stand in the queues to buy tickets or cards now.

He said bike taxis and carpooling should be encouraged although the government of Karnataka had put brakes on their operation. The BMRCL is also working on introducing shopping options for commuters inside and outside the metro stations. He said the BMRCL plans to sell office space in metro stations and provide end-to-end solutions to all the stakeholders. The Managing Director, International Council on Clean transportation (ICCT), Amit Bhatt said urbanisation in India is 33% while it is about 80-85% in European and American countries. The Vice President Technology and Innovation, Bosch Global Software Technologies, Vadiraj Krishnamurthy said the future is software defined fully programmable vehicles. "Connecting vehicles using technology is an engineering challenge of the future," he said. Vinayak Bhavnani, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer , Chalo also spoke.