No more e-pass required in Kolkata Metro from next Sunday

The number of services provided by the Kolkata Metro will be increasing from Monday (December 14). As a result, the number of trains has increased to 216. 

204 trains ran all day till Sunday (December 13). The number of trains increases and the interval between busy hours in the morning and evening decreases. 

From now on, the service will be available every seven minutes. Another new addition, male passengers will not need e-pass to travel on the metro all day, authorities said.   

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Metro service will continue as before from 8 am to 9 pm. Older people, women and children up to the age of 15 will be able to travel all day without e-pass. In the case of male passengers, e-pass is not prohibited in the metro from 7 am to 8:30 am and from 8 pm to 9:30 pm. 

In other words, the use of e-pass for all types of passengers is currently discounted for three hours in the morning and evening combined.   

After a long hiatus of services, the Metro started operating with various restrictions during the unlock phase. However, as the number of passengers is still much less than expected, the authorities want to phase out the e-pass system. It is reported that the system may be lifted by mid-January. 

However, in the case of women, the elderly and children, the risk of downloading e-passes all day is no longer present and the number of passengers has increased. The authorities want to make the metro journey normal for everyone to get more passengers.   

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Officials say the closure of schools and colleges this year is a major reason for the low number of commuters on the metro. As a result, they want to take the service back to the normal situation step by step.   

An average of 130,000 passengers are now traveling on the metro on weekdays. However, after the authorities have taken the decision of not using e-passes for women, the elderly and children up to 15 years of age, the average daily passenger has increased to 15,000. It is expected that the number could rise further this week.

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