Chennai Metro Rail has revealed its plans to induct more electric vehicles to its several stations, boosting its last-mile connectivity.
Though this plan has been in the pipeline for a long time now, likely, it will finally become a reality.
According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL), after a surge in the number of travellers in the past couple of weeks after introducing electric autorickshaws and minibuses in select stations, they have become more serious about adding last-mile connectivity vehicles now.
“We want to operate the last-mile connectivity ourselves. Though we do run limited number of electric autorickshaws now, we are mulling doing this on a larger scale and have a combination of both electric and share autorickshaws. Our team is working on a plan. Though permit is not needed for a low-capacity electric vehicle, we need registration and other approvals. We are in discussion with the government to get necessary approvals too to launch this project,” an official said.
Little Mount, Alandur, Thirumangalam, Chennai airport, Tiruvottiyur, Government Estate, Koyambedu and Shenoy Nagar are some of the stations from where the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) operates minibuses.
Out of all these stations, buses operated from Thirumangalam and Chennai airport are running packed during peak hours and commuters say there is a dire need to strengthen the fleet of buses and autorickshaws from these two stations.
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