End of Summers - Planned to stay a couple of days in Delhi before going back to campus. Completed the last day presentations and other formalities at Feedback and had to go to my uncles place at Janakpuri. Had a cab drop from Gurgaon office to Dwarka and from there to Janakpuri had an option of either taking an auto or try Delhi Metro. Went for the second option ... Metro is not an unfamiliar concept to me ... had seen London Metro and Tokyo Metro before ... but was curious to see how the Desi version of it looks like. My first metro from Dwarka to Uttam Nagar.
The stations were clean and marvelous. Thanks to the prohibition of food and beverages in the station area and the train. I think this was a good and bold step towards maintaining the cleanliness of the facility. The revenues from selling food and beverages are foregone for the sake of cleanliness and also may be the maintenance costs justify the decision - not aware of the economics involved. The security measures taken were adequate.
The ticketing system is fool proof very much like that in Tokyo Metro with very minor changes. Firstly tickets were reusable coins - no paper wastage as in other metro tickets. The charge correction facility at the destination exists which is a desired feature. However the ticket vending and charge correction activities are manual, it would be good to explore the possibility of having a vending machine - again having a look at the costs.
The station has route maps painted beside the counter so that the person can make a decision on which lines to take and where to change. However it would have been good to mark 3-4 popular places to visit at each station or in other words nearest station for each popular place. Example - For India Gate get down near Central Secretariat ... some thing on those lines would have been beneficial.
The platforms display the train time and the trains are prompt. On the platform you can see people standing everywhere and this was the case in London also here I would mention about one thing I liked in Tokyo - there are marks drawn on the platform where the doors are expected to open and passengers used to stand in a line there waiting for the train. This is easily implementable and would help avoid the last minute anxiety among the passengers. The stopping time is decent and speed or smoothness of travel is excellent. The coaches are clean and spacious. The distance between stations is adequate again.
The connectivity to the stations is ensured by feeder bus same as those at MMTS stations in Hyderabad - I read about the concept however have not seen them as I had not travelled by MMTS. The stations have parking lots similar as to MMTS stations again.
Overall the experience has been fantastic and with many cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai going for a mass public transport in metro - it would not only save cities from traffic and ensure a fast, smooth and pollution free commutation but also would encourage the sale of ipods, ishuffles or mp3 playes and books/magazines improving the reading habits of the nation in the long run.
The stations were clean and marvelous. Thanks to the prohibition of food and beverages in the station area and the train. I think this was a good and bold step towards maintaining the cleanliness of the facility. The revenues from selling food and beverages are foregone for the sake of cleanliness and also may be the maintenance costs justify the decision - not aware of the economics involved. The security measures taken were adequate.
The ticketing system is fool proof very much like that in Tokyo Metro with very minor changes. Firstly tickets were reusable coins - no paper wastage as in other metro tickets. The charge correction facility at the destination exists which is a desired feature. However the ticket vending and charge correction activities are manual, it would be good to explore the possibility of having a vending machine - again having a look at the costs.
The station has route maps painted beside the counter so that the person can make a decision on which lines to take and where to change. However it would have been good to mark 3-4 popular places to visit at each station or in other words nearest station for each popular place. Example - For India Gate get down near Central Secretariat ... some thing on those lines would have been beneficial.
The platforms display the train time and the trains are prompt. On the platform you can see people standing everywhere and this was the case in London also here I would mention about one thing I liked in Tokyo - there are marks drawn on the platform where the doors are expected to open and passengers used to stand in a line there waiting for the train. This is easily implementable and would help avoid the last minute anxiety among the passengers. The stopping time is decent and speed or smoothness of travel is excellent. The coaches are clean and spacious. The distance between stations is adequate again.
The connectivity to the stations is ensured by feeder bus same as those at MMTS stations in Hyderabad - I read about the concept however have not seen them as I had not travelled by MMTS. The stations have parking lots similar as to MMTS stations again.
Overall the experience has been fantastic and with many cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai going for a mass public transport in metro - it would not only save cities from traffic and ensure a fast, smooth and pollution free commutation but also would encourage the sale of ipods, ishuffles or mp3 playes and books/magazines improving the reading habits of the nation in the long run.
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