Bengaluru: Metros to be shopping hubs too?

Bengaluru: People riding on Namma Metro can expect to do quite a bit of shopping at its stations as it is leasing out space for a variety of stores offering everything from mobile phones, to bags and books, besides laundrettes and pharmacies. 

With the Metro’s daily ridership of  3.5 lakh  likely to go up to four lakh with the coaches increasing from three to six by the year end, commuters' expectations of  facilities at the stations are also expected to rise, according to its  General Manager, Finance and CPRO, Vasanth Rao. 

"Around 60-70 applicants (and counting) have expressed interest in the 50 plus retail outlets that are open to tenders at our Phase-1 Metro stations.  There is competition for space in Baiyappanahalli, Indiranagar and MG Road Metro stations," he says,  revealing that the Metro stations will have mobile, watches and electronic stores, beauty parlours, pharmacies, laundrettes, apparel, shoes , bag and  book stores, besides business incubation centres, hobby skill development centres, cafes, takeaway and currency exchange counters, optical eye gear, fitness centres, bakeries, day care centres and much more in days to come.

To encourage registered start- ups, Metro has relaxed the criteria for selection of budding entrepreneurs.

 "Our selections have turned innovative now as we don't expect young start-ups to have high net worth. Capital and turnover requirements have been relaxed for them as long as they are registered with the IT-BT department. They can leverage this opportunity to set up their centers," Mr Rao adds.

As of now, start- ups are already up and running at Phase 1 stations like Trinity, Ulsoor and Jalahalli . While the BMRCL says  it is keen on ensuring that its core business of transporting people is not obstructed by retail spaces, especially in times of emergency evacuation, it is not only banking on its train fares to pull it out of the red but also its  annual revenue from commercial leasing of space at its stations.

The income is expected to touch between Rs 70 and Rs 100 crores by December this year and  upto Rs 200 crore in the next couple of years.

Admitting that the revenue could  help the BMRCL pay off its debts, Mr Rao claims that no other Metro Rail in India has such a wide variety of commercial facilities to offer its commuters at its stations.

‘BMRCL explanation on Cantonment Metro flimsy’

Instead of clearing the air, BMRCL's explanation for retaining the changed alignment near Cantonment Metro station seems to be fuelling anger among the citizens.

Rajkumar,  a concerned citizen. has released a public statement countering the claims put forth by BMRCL MD Pradeep Singh Kharola .

"BMRCL is a fan of Alistair MacLean who wrote the famous novel “Fear is the Key”. They want to scare people so that they don’t ask questions. Delhi has done a tunnel of length 2.53 km and Kolkata is working on tunnels below the River Hooghly. Here BMRCL is invoking fear into our minds for tunneling for 1.6 km, by repeatedly stressing ‘accidents’ during Phase 1,” RajKumar said.

He called out Namma Metro for "reeking of authoritarianism" as they have "arrogance to state that they cannot share the DPR of a public project" and make "false assurance to agitating citizens".

The officials had said the curvatures were too sharp with Phase-1 slowing down its speed from 100 to 30 km/ph. In response Rajkumar said, "You cannot blindly take the train at 100 kmph irrespective of the distance between stations, as the train needs time to build up/slow down. There are three stations within a distance of two kilometres with their new alignment. Stop fooling us!"