Gurgaon: Rapid Metro, a subsidiary of ILFS Rail Ltd, which sees a daily average of about 35,000 passengers on working days, says it is ready to take on additional capacity and run trains with more frequency if Delhi implements the odd-even car scheme.
Rapid Metro is a metro system in Gurgaon, a satellite city of Delhi, connecting the business districts and also works as a feeder system for the Delhi Metro.
“We are waiting for fine print of the odd-even car scheme. We are fully prepared. If the scheme translates into more demand, we would be able to ramp up within 20 minutes,” Rajiv Banga, CEO, Rapid Metro, told.
The Rapid Metro system gets almost 75-80 per cent of its passengers from the Delhi Metro interchange station. Additionally, it is also backing on tie-up with shuttle.com.
“These are 12-17 seater shuttles. This can also be increased, although it requires more advance notice,” said Banga.
Rapid Metro has seen a 25 per cent increase in ridership since March (eight months) on the working days, said Banga. “This is sustained increase, though on certain days, it has been as high as 42,000 a day,” he added.
On the weekends, when the traffic is usually low, Rapid Metro has started running a concept train – called joy express — basically allowing kids and their guardians to book a train and have a party in the train that is closed and runs on the circuit. Rapid Metro dedicates a train for such events in which doors do not open.
Each joy ride express sees a booking of 30 kids and 40-50 adults, shared Banga. He added that the company is also setting up a double level foot overbridge with escalators that can help people access the IndusInd Bank Metro station from another side of the national highway.
