It is not just passengers who are delighted with the commencement of the direct Metro route between Salt Lake and Howrah. Auto drivers are making hay too.

The trains are bringing in hordes of passengers, but once they alight, many still need autos or bike apps for last-mile connectivity. This is especially true for the Sector V Metro station, where long queues of commuters are waiting for autos during rush hours.

“The route from the Sector V Metro station to SDF More in Sector V had 25 autos till last week, but from Monday, we have increased it to 50. The Wipro-New Town bus terminus route used to have 15 autos, but now we’ve hiked it to 40. Despite doubling capacity, it is still not enough to meet demand,” said Surojit Das, an auto driver on the Wipro–New Town route. Both rides cost Rs 20, and fares have not been hiked since last week.

The additional autos have been diverted from routes such as Karunamoyee–Sector V and Karunamoyee–New Town bus terminus, as many commuters are no longer getting off buses at Karunamoyee but alighting trains at Wipro.

Many passengers who just started using the Metro since Monday are unsure of where to find autos and to ease the chaos, auto drivers are appointing one of their own to act as a manager of sorts, to help passengers join the right queue. On Tuesday, Surojit was on this duty.

The SDF More queue clears more quickly. “That’s because the New Town autos are getting stuck for 30 minutes in the Technopolis snarl (due to ongoing work on the Airport–New Garia Metro line),” said Surojit. “Previously, this route barely made us money, but fortunes have changed since last week. If it wasn’t for the traffic jam, we’d be doing many more trips and making the most of it.”

Commuters rush to a bus that stops outside the Sector V Metro station Brinda Sarkar

At 10am on Tuesday, the New Town auto queue had 26 people waiting, wiping sweat off their brows and glancing impatiently at their watches.

The autos were all carrying five passengers, with the driver squeezing in two people beside him. While this poses a safety risk, the police turned a blind eye. “This is not our concern right now. With the new Metro route ferrying in so many more people, our brief is to keep traffic moving. If one extra person gets off the road, so be it,” said a traffic policeman, anonymously.

More autos wanted

Commuters are thrilled with the Metro service, but the last mile is leaving a sour note. “Till last week, I would take an hour and 20 minutes to travel from my Bally home to my Mahisbathan office. Now I’m reaching Sector V in 30 minutes and, though it should take me seconds to reach Mahisbathan by auto, I’m waiting for more than 10 minutes for one,” said A. Saha.

Chirag Tibrewal of Howrah agreed. “The Metro ride was quick but uncomfortable. Yesterday, I had to let three crowded trains go before I mustered the courage to board one. Even then, the doors wouldn’t close, and we had to push some people out. After such an ordeal, it’s frustrating to wait for autos again. The Metro needs to add more rakes, and the auto routes need to add more vehicles,” said Tibrewal, who was headed to his Eco Space office.

Bikers at service

With few buses passing the Wipro crossing, app cabs – especially bikes – are an important player in the game. “Rapido aage jao!” Surojit shouted each time a bike slowed down. At around 10.30am, seven app bikes were waiting just beyond the auto queue.

Rudradip Pathik, who travelled from Howrah, had booked his Rapido from Wipro while still crossing Karunamoyee station. “Yesterday I saw how long the auto queue was and didn’t want to waste time today,” he said, before speeding away on a two-wheeler.

Some bikes were booked by those waiting in the auto queues, but many riders stood around hoping to be hired. “We may get multiple rides from the Sector V Metro now, but the fare is peanuts compared to rides from Howrah to here,” said Bikram Pramanik, a Rapido driver. “It’s a major loss of income for us.”

Passengers cram into an auto while others wait in the queue to head to the New Town bus terminus on Tuesday Brinda Sarkar

Mixed bag for buses

“We might as well shut down our service,” grumbled Pintu Ghora, driver of a bus on the Karunamoyee–Muchighata route via Santragachhi. “Till last week, we’d still have 20 passengers on board when we reached Karunamoyee. Now we barely have two. Ticket sales have dropped by nearly Rs 1,500 a day.”

The route depends heavily on office-goers, especially those working in government offices around Karunamoyee. “But why will people take a bus if the air-conditioned Metro drops them in front of their office? We run 14 buses every 15 minutes, but who will take them now?” Ghora asked. “Our only saving grace is that we start at 5.30am, so those coming from even farther than Howrah can avail our service and reach on time.”

Another bus route expected to get affected is 215A. One of the oldest bus routes of the area that has been plying from the time calls of jackals could still be heard in the tech hub three decades back, it plies via Karunamoyee, Baisakhi, Hudco More, Ultadanga, Khanna cinema, Hatibagan, Sovabazar, Jorabagan, and Posta to reach Howrah station.

But the bus has been getting more passengers over the last three-four days. “This is not the right period to understand the impact of Metro Rail extension. With Durga puja barely a month away, we always go overloaded at this time as our route covers busy shopping destinations like Burrabazar and Hatibagan. Common people hop onto a bus right after getting out of the market,” said Dipanjan Chowdhury, who owns two buses on 215A and is a resident of Ideal Aqua View in Sector V. Route 215A has 70 buses, of which 68 are active.

Long queues wait for autos to head to Sector V. Brinda Sarkar

He points out that the bus route overlaps the Metro Rail path only at the two terminuses — Howrah station and Sector V. “Other than that, our route does not fall on the Metro way. Even if the bus passes by Girish Park Metro station, it is not on the East-West route.”

In the public transport business since 1987, Chowdhury feels the most impacted will be routes that connect Howrah and Sealdah stations, including route 71, which has stopped plying through First Avenue till Sector V and terminates mostly at Rajabazar tram depot.

Chowdhury says Route 215A took a major hit when East West Metro started plying from Sealdah to Sector V. “We lost the sizeable bulk of passengers who took the bus from Ultadanga after getting off at Bidhannagar Road station to reach Sector V. Once East West Metro started, they get off at Sealdah and take the Metro instead. We have already lost Rs 1,000 per day in ticket sales,” he says, pointing out that the extension to Howrah would not otherwise be a new threat.

“The only passengers we might lose are those traveling from Howrah station all the way to Sector V or the reverse. Though a bus trip would still be cheaper at Rs 20, compared to the Rs 30 Metro fare for the same distance, people are likely to choose convenience and comfort,” he admitted. The time taken for the ride is an hour and half on working days, compared to less than 30 minutes on the Metro.

Another route that 215A shares its depot with is not feeling the heat. “The only passengers we might lose are those who used to take the bus from the rail station at Ultadanga for Sector V. But they are barely 20 to 25 per cent of the volume on that leg as we don’t ply on the Metro route,” said Siddhartha Biswas, a route 201 bus owner.

An empty 215A bus under the Metro viaduct at Karunamoyee. The bus owners are hopeful of no major impact of the Metro route expansion. Atriyo Sarkar

Route 71 is still following its formula of 50 per cent curtailment of route for its 41 buses that ply from Howrah. This means half the buses halt at Rajabazar while the other half go onwards to PNB Island. “The Metro effect cannot be understood till after the Pujas. But we have no plans to extend all buses to Salt Lake (as was its route before the pandemic) as that will only increase losses,” said Kuntal Ghosh, one of the owners of Route 71.

Residents on guard

Residents of CL Block, where the Sector V Metro culminates, are wary of the developments. “The number of passengers and autos lingering in our vicinity has shot up since the direct link with Howrah,” said Justice (retd) Soumitra Sen, whose home is very close to the Metro.

A queue at the Karunamoyee Metro station. The crowd was less as Wednesday was a holiday on account of Ganesh puja. Atriyo Sarkar

“I had to go to Sector V the other day – a 10-minute drive usually – but the JK Saha bridge was so congested it took me 45 minutes! At least the autos need to be rerouted to spare this junction.”

Locals are also worried about bikes, including app-based ones, using the pedestrian bridge over the canal beneath the Metro station. “Some of us residents went to meet the Metro authorities and requested turnstiles or barricades to stop this. Given how recklessly bikers ride, it is an accident waiting to happen. They asked us to give it in writing, which we have, but no action has been taken,” added Sen.

Additional reporting bySudeshna Banerjee