Another reclaim the night march planned on Monday
This Sunday will see another spontaneous protest on streets of Kolkata, suburbs and across the country, a call to ‘reclaim the night’.
Three Metro stations of South Kolkata are soon to operate sans any ticket booking counters. The Kolkata Metro Railway has decided to launch a new system of “No Booking Counter Station” in Purple and Orange Lines.
The new system is to be introduced at three stations that have been identified for the pilot project. The three stations selected include two from the Purple Line and one from the Orange Line. To begin with, the ‘No Booking Counter Station’ is to be introduced at Taratala, Sakherbazar Metro stations of Purple Line and Kavi Sukanta station of Orange Line. As learnt, the carrier is to introduce the new system from 1 August.
According to the city Metro office, the decision has been taken following poor passenger count at the three stations. The average daily passenger count, as informed, at Taratala station is only 70 while 220 passengers use Kavi Sukanta Metro station regularly. At Sakherbazar station the count has been observed around 55 passengers. Considering the low passenger count, the Kolkata Metro Railway Authorities have decided to make these three stations as ‘No Booking Counter Station.’ At the selected three Metro stations, no booking counters would remain open for issuing tokens, new smart cards or recharging smart cards. From 1 August, no booking staff will be present at the ticket booking counters at the identified stations. Instead, the passengers would have to purchase their tokens, smart cards, and paper QR code-based tickets from Automatic Smart Card Recharge Machines (ASCRM). The commuters would also be able to recharge their smart cards or opt for UPI payment-based ticketing system from these ASCRMs. To serve the purpose, the Metro authorities have installed two ASCRM machines at the selected stations.
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As informed, the Kolkata Metro Railway authorities have decided to monitor the passengers’ response and analyse the feedback. The authorities would review the situation after six months and decide further course of action accordingly.
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