Video of women jostling for space in overcrowded Metro goes viral

BENGALURU: With the Namma Metro daily ridership increasing steadily, especially after the KR Pura-Whitefield line was operationalised, and hitting a record of 7.5 lakh earlier this month, commuting seems to have become quite a hassle for women professionals.

A video posted on X by a user on October 26, highlighting the morning rush hour, had garnered about 68,000 views.  Mugdha Variyar (@Mugdha_Variyar), who posted the video on X, wrote, “Morning rush-hour scenes with Bangalore Metro. Poor headway management” and tagged Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy (@RLR_BTM) and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar).

Morning rush-hour scenes with Bangalore Metro.

Poor headway management. pic.twitter.com/HWHc4XWlAr

— Mugdha Variyar (@Mugdha_Variyar) October 26, 2023

In the video, scores of women passengers can be seen crunched precariously near the doors while holding on to their belongings. Some others, who could not make their way into the coaches are seen waiting  on the platform even as others jostle to get in.

Many X users reacted to the post comparing it to the Mumbai local trains while some others felt that Namma Metro should add more coaches. There were also suggestion on where to find more place. A user commented, “Bangalore is the new Mumbai”.

In another post, Mugdha Variyar shared a picture of the condition of passengers inside the Metro. She wrote, “Adding to the safety concerns, the Majestic metro station is an accident waiting to happen given the limited escalator and staircase space and the large crowd moving between different platforms”.

It’s been a month since Namma Metro’s Purple Line commenced operations between Challaghatta and Whitefield, which has brought so much relief to commuters.