COVID-19: DMRC to survey travel pattern of commuters

Amid the COVID-19 situation, the DMRC is conducting an online survey to study the possibility of commuters planning their travel in flexible timings in order to avoid overcrowding while using the rapid transit system, officials said on Tuesday.

The link for this online survey will be available till October 27 on the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation 's social media pages.

"The survey is aimed at collecting information from the metro commuters on their ability or possibility to schedule their travel in off-peak hours so as to avoid the rush during morning and evening peak hours," the DMRC said in a statement.

The questions of the survey are designed to cover basic aspects of metro travel, such as the timings of travel, line utilisation, flexibility of planning the travel in non-peak hours, and whether the commuters have an option to work from home, it said.

The inputs provided in this survey would help the Delhi Metro to understand the commuters' requirements better and to further improve the services, officials said.

After the Delhi Metro fully resumed its services on September 12, with the new norms and social distancing in place due to the ongoing pandemic, the occupancy on metro has been limited, they said.

"However, it has been observed that certain sections of the DMRC network have witnessed 100 per cent occupancy during morning and evening peak hours.

"In view of this, the commuters are requested to 'break the peak' by staggering the travel timings to decongest the peak hours and avail the additional capacity available during off-peak hours for their own convenience and safety amidst the COVID-19 pandemic," the statement said. 

Image credits: PTI