Hyderabad: About two lakh passengers are expected to take the Hyderabad Metro Rail on a average every day by the third month of operations, once the initial rush of curious commuters wanting to experience the service subsides. Metro Rail estimates that taking the train will cut travel time by 30 minutes to one hour compared to the road journey. It is also less polluting than the road commute.
According to a study conducted by JNTU-Hyderabad in 2016, it takes 60 minutes to travel 13 kilometres in the city if there are no traffic jams and the average speed of vehicles is 12 kmph. Bad roads and traffic management is the reason for this. A more recent study by the traffic wing found that the average speed in the city has increased from 12 kmph to 20kmph after junctions were closed, U-turns introduced and barricades set up by L&T in the middle of the roads were removed following completion of the Metro Rail works.
Still, it takes one hour to travel by car from Miyapur to Ameerpet (13 km), 60-70 minutes by bus and 35-40 minutes by two-wheeler. The Metro Rail will reduce this to just 20 minutes. To travel from Nagole to Ameerpet (17 km), it takes 30 to 32 minutes by Metro, 75-90 minutes by RTC bus, 60-70 minutes by car and 45-55 minutes by two-wheeler. Metro trains will initially run at a speed of 60 kmph though they are designed to run at 90 kmph. They will halt for one minute at all the stations, which are at 1-1.25 km intervals.
