20 per cent Mumbaikars have given up on local trains

The pre and postCovid figures of passengers availing the services of local trains are seeing a significant decline almost 20 per cent a day Compared to the financial year of 20192020 1439 lakh fewer commuters took the cityrsquos lifeline daily in the fiscal ending March 2023 While commuters blamed the fall from 7634 lakh a day in FY20 to 6195 lakh a day in FY23 on ticketless passengers experts attributed it to pandemicinduced remote work and changes in transport preferenceWhile the commuters blamed the fall from 7634 lakh a day in FY20 to 6195 lakh a day in FY23 on ticketless passengers experts believed that remote work new modes of transport and private vehicles have taken the load off local trainsOne of the experts blames deterioration in services for drop in passenger figures PicSatej ShindeAccording to the statistics of Central Railway CR on an average 4147 lakh people travelled via local trains daily in FY20 and the figure dropped by 609 lakh to 3538 lakh in FY23 Western Railway WR ferried 3487 lakh commuters daily in FY20 but the number of passengers declined by 830 lakh to 2657 lakh in FY23 Overall CR and WR combined saw a daily decline of 1439 lakh commuters The numbers are calculated on the basis of ticket sales revenue and average footfalls of passengers at stationsTicketless passengersMany commuters midday spoke to were sceptical of the figures Given the crowds in the trains the passenger numbers seem to have gone back to the preCovid times they said ldquoThe official numbers are all hogwash Come and look at the crowds in trains one cannot get in during rush hours It must be due to a rise in ticketless passengers as ticket checkers are not seen these daysrdquo Advait Rana a commuter saidAlso read Mumbai MMRDA renames three stations on Metro line 2A and 7Passengers at Dadar station in March Commuters allege railways slacking in ticket checking PicAshish RajeCR and WR officials refuted the allegations saying both the divisions have topped nationally in ticket sales this year and earned hundreds of crores just from fines ldquoThe ticketchecking teams on the Mumbai suburban section recovered an amount of Rs 17035 crore between April 2022 and March 2023rdquo WR chief public relations officer PRO Sumit Thakur said CRrsquos PRO Shivaji Sutar said ldquoCentral Railwayrsquos Mumbai division has crossed the Rs 100crore landmark with an earning of Rs 10825 crore from 1957 lakh ticketless passengersrdquoWhatrsquore the real reasonsIt is not about ticketed or ticketless passengers said experts in the transport sector ldquoCommute in the city has evolved since the pandemic Remote work is still prevalent in several industries and many still prefer individual transport Many companies are providing buses or cars to night employees Moreover the fear of Covid19 is still not fully gone and many people still avoid travel unless essential Also the government has made many services online including filing of court cases which has reduced travel to south Mumbai Many small organisations do not have permanent offices and use spaces like WeWork Also BEST has improved its services and many prefer affordable AC buses over trainsrdquo said AV Shenoy senior transport expert with Mumbai Mobility Forum and Mumbai Vikas SamitildquoThe prime reason for decline in passenger numbers is the deterioration in services of local trains The other factors are crowded foot overbridges poor access to stations and nonavailability of adequate public transport for first and last miles and unreliable and expensive shared cabs The Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation is busy focusing on creating new corridors for the benefit of real estate playersrdquo Subodh Jain former member engineering of the Railway Board and former CR general managerldquoMumbairsquos lifeline wonrsquot remain the same for long thanks to multiple alternative options under development like Metro I would suggest that the government stop investing in and expanding Mumbai suburban railway further and instead focus on managing whatrsquos already thererdquo Shailesh Goyal former member of National Railway Users Consultative Committee said ldquoDuring the lockdown many people bought their own vehicles and they are avoiding local trains even after Covid19 Many are also continuing remote workrdquo Jitendra Gupta of Citizen Transport Committee saidAnnual passenger numbersWestern Railway201920 preCovid 1241508530202223 postCovid 969953817Central Railway201920 preCovid 1513687887202223 postCovid 12915574327634LNo of commuters on CR WR in a day in FY20609 LakhDaily drop in CR pax Nos in FY23 in comparison to FY20830 LakhDaily drop in WR pax Nos in FY23 in comparison to FY20