MMRDA plans bicycle on rent facility for metro commuters between Dahisar and Andheri

According to MMRDA officials they are in talks with companies providing bicycles on rent and are planning to allocate dedicated space for it outside every metro station to ensure last mile connectivity for metro commuters

Mumbai: In order to provide last mile connectivity to commuters, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development MMRDA is mulling over providing commuters with a facility of renting bicycles from outside metro stations of the upcoming two metro corridors between Dahisar and Andheri.

This will be on the lines of renting cycles for the operational Versova-Ghatkopar Metro-1 corridor. (Picture for representation purpose)

This will be on the lines of renting cycles for the operational Versova-Ghatkopar Metro-1 corridor. The MMRDA will open up partially the Metro-2A corridor between Dahisar and Dahanukarwadi and Metro-7 corridor between Dahisar East and Aarey Colony metro station by mid-May, and the entire corridor by October 2022.

According to MMRDA officials they are in talks with companies providing bicycles on rent and are planning to allocate dedicated space for it outside every metro station to ensure last mile connectivity for metro commuters. A similar experiment was done on the current operational Metro corridor two years ago.

SVR Srinivas, metropolitan commissioner of the MMRDA said, “We are exploring for commuters to rent a bicycle from metro stations once the two metro corridors are made operational in the next two months. This will be done to ensure there is last mile connectivity from the metro station to the end destination of the commuter.”

Srinivas added, “We are in the final stages where trial runs for Metro-2A and Metro-7 are ongoing and once the safety certificate is issued, we will start the services for commuters.”

According to MMRDA officials, the safety certificate is expected for Metro-2A and Metro-7 by the end of March, and post this in the next one month the two Metro stations will start their operations covering 20-km between Dahisar and Goregaon as part of the first phase.

Meanwhile, MMRDA has also requested Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) to operate new bus services that will act as feeder services. As part of this, the BEST has said that it will introduce 25 new routes between Dahisar and Andheri as two new Metro lines get operational. As other metro corridors in the city become operational, BEST will operate a total of 175 new bus routes to facilitate a smooth commute.