Hyderabad: Many thought it's a direct Metro ride

Hyderabad: Those travelling from Ameerpet to Secunderabad Metro station will pay Rs 30 for a 10-minute return journey. Commuters were surprised to find that the distance that would take them an hour by road was covered in 10-15 minutes.

Much confusion prevailed regarding the inter-change station, Ameerpet, because commuters were not aware of the inter-change link to travel up to Miyapur station and Nagole station. 

Hyderabad Metro Rail has deployed about 10 employees to help commuters. They wear a ‘May I help you’ T-shirt and are deployed on all platforms. One of their duties is to stop commuters from crossing the safety line near the rail platform. Nandana, who lives in Vidyanagar, was keen to get the metro rail experience. “I wanted to travel by Metro today but our area comes under the second phase so I took a direct ticket to Mettuguda Metro Station, which is the nearest station to us as of now. As I was coming from Bharatpur, I was not aware that I had to get down at Ameerpet to change lines. I heard people discussing this in the train, which was a bit confusing. People at the ticket counter should inform us about the inter-change stations when we are buying our tickets.”

In fact, signboards informing about the interchange are up at Ameer-pet station: Change to Red Line for Miyapur-SR Nagar, ESI, Erragadda, Bharat Nagar, Moosapet, Balanagar, Kukatpally, KPHB station, JNTU Station, Miyapur.

The crowds were particularly heavy on this first day of operations, but if the trend continues, then the coaches will be found to be inadequate to carry the load. "The Metro was very crowded today and there was no place to even stand inside the trains," Mr Vishwanath observed.