It's been a while since I last got a chance to write. I have been travelling all this while to two different countries. The concept of "tube" or "subway" has been there in these countries for as many as hundred years. Yet the Delhi's metro seems to be based on these age old systems.
I had to put in some effort learning the map reading and trying to figure out subway routes in Washington. It turns out people from all walks of life use the metro. The peak hours have maximum fares and the train frequency is also pretty good. However, off-peak times the frequency is bad and there are very few people on the trains. It is more scary than comfortable, to be the only person in the whole compartment. Well, I had another lady for company but for few stations I was all alone. I had already read a lot of articles about travelling alone in a subways. However, I was sure all the incidents mentioned late night as the time of incident. It was not all that convincing for me that day hours could be harmless. After a while, guard also announced on the PA system that he would encourage people sitting alone in carriages to move up to another carriages, which was not very helpful. My 8 station journey seemed to go on forever. I was torn between walking over to another carriage and wondering how long can it take to cover remaining 5 stations. As luck would have it, the train stood still for few minutes while approaching one of the stations. This was the last straw, I got up and decided to walk look for a seat in a different carriage. Its not as easy as the Delhi metro, one the speed of the metro is comparatively fast and second the switch operated door between carriages are not very easy to operate. One of the door didn't open even after pushing the switch twice.
On my way back, the peak hour traffic was helpful. The seemingly universal logic that first and last carriages are generally see lesser footfall, holds true for the Washington subway too. The carriages near escalator had many people standing and travelling. Yes, I also witnessed an incident of interruption while doors were closing. There was a group of young girls and boys who boarded the train at the last moment. It seemed their friends were not able to keep up with them. So they conveniently put their handbooks to avoid closing of doors. Not that I saw it very many times, but it did make me feel good that this act can be termed as basic human instinct which can be found in people across the world. I don't support the idea but can't really blame our "junta" as the only ones in world trying disruptive stunts in metros.
The positives aspects of Delhi metro as very many in comparison. The escalator here are faster and you don't feel you are twenty-feet below the the earth surface. The fare remains constant through out the day with no peak hour fare-hikes. We can never face the issue of vacant carriages, there are days when you end-up with no seats even on 11:00pm trains. Which I suppose is very helpful!!
I had to put in some effort learning the map reading and trying to figure out subway routes in Washington. It turns out people from all walks of life use the metro. The peak hours have maximum fares and the train frequency is also pretty good. However, off-peak times the frequency is bad and there are very few people on the trains. It is more scary than comfortable, to be the only person in the whole compartment. Well, I had another lady for company but for few stations I was all alone. I had already read a lot of articles about travelling alone in a subways. However, I was sure all the incidents mentioned late night as the time of incident. It was not all that convincing for me that day hours could be harmless. After a while, guard also announced on the PA system that he would encourage people sitting alone in carriages to move up to another carriages, which was not very helpful. My 8 station journey seemed to go on forever. I was torn between walking over to another carriage and wondering how long can it take to cover remaining 5 stations. As luck would have it, the train stood still for few minutes while approaching one of the stations. This was the last straw, I got up and decided to walk look for a seat in a different carriage. Its not as easy as the Delhi metro, one the speed of the metro is comparatively fast and second the switch operated door between carriages are not very easy to operate. One of the door didn't open even after pushing the switch twice.
On my way back, the peak hour traffic was helpful. The seemingly universal logic that first and last carriages are generally see lesser footfall, holds true for the Washington subway too. The carriages near escalator had many people standing and travelling. Yes, I also witnessed an incident of interruption while doors were closing. There was a group of young girls and boys who boarded the train at the last moment. It seemed their friends were not able to keep up with them. So they conveniently put their handbooks to avoid closing of doors. Not that I saw it very many times, but it did make me feel good that this act can be termed as basic human instinct which can be found in people across the world. I don't support the idea but can't really blame our "junta" as the only ones in world trying disruptive stunts in metros.
The positives aspects of Delhi metro as very many in comparison. The escalator here are faster and you don't feel you are twenty-feet below the the earth surface. The fare remains constant through out the day with no peak hour fare-hikes. We can never face the issue of vacant carriages, there are days when you end-up with no seats even on 11:00pm trains. Which I suppose is very helpful!!
