Metro emerging fav long distance mode

Hyderabad Metro Rail is slowly but surely becoming the most favoured mode of travel, as more and more people are opting for elevated rail to the city buses.

"We travel from LB Nagar to Miyapur every day, it takes 55 mins. If I travelled by bus, it would take extra an hour to reach my office. It is a nice option to travel long distances," said Michael, an associated software engineer at IBM.

Saving time is a major reason why more and more people are opting for the Metro. Babli, a software engineer from IBM, said, "Waiting for buses can be agonising. Also, one starts to sweat and jostling for space on the bus is a worry."

Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) Managing Director NVS Reddy, speaking in a business meeting conducted by Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association meeting last week, said that 4,000 new commuters were being added to Metro every week and that presently, 2.30 lakh passengers are travelling by Metro every day.

Poojitha, Tejaswini and Suni are all final year B Tech students from Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering & Technology (GRIET) and they travel by metro. They said, "The fare from Tarnaka to Yousufguda almost the same in both modes of travel. But, we love to hop on the metro." A Paytm option for Metro would be more comfortable because it's difficult to carry change all time," said Poojitha.

NVS Reddy also mentioned about the government's intention to develop townships along the proposed Airport Express Metro Corridor via Outer Ring Road (ORR) to keep the residential and commercial accommodation costs under control and to make Hyderabad an affordable city for many decades to come.

"It's exciting to travel on Metro. We hope the frequency improves with time, as the number of passengers increase," said Rahila, an MSc II year student at Osmania University. "One can save time by travelling on Metro and that is the biggest advantage. I am able to spend much more time with my family now, said Anjana, a banker.