Kolkata: As the Metro railway operations expand across three routes, some auto routes have been realigning to make the maximum out of the new mass transit option. Even though the services are truncated and for a limited time, auto operators on Thursday tried to gauge the passenger demands and started aligning themselves.The service extension up to Majerhat, auto operators felt, would lead to a serious jump in passenger count during the morning peak hours. Many operators are planning to run in some unchartered routes perpendicular to the Metro line. Since the Metro operation comes to an end abruptly in the late afternoon, they will swing back to their original routes thereafter.“Man ypeople now take the Metro from Joka and Thakurpukur to get down at Majerhat to catch a train either for Sealdah,” said Shankar Pradhan, who runs his auto on the Joka-Taratala route. He now plans to run along Joka-Kalua Main Road or Yani Sarani to offer last mile connectivity. Large areas adjacent to upcoming Metro corridors on the east and the west are neither served by any bus nor auto routes. This has opened up the scope for running new routes. “Areas like Kharki, Diara, Ranabhutia on the western side of Bypass remain unconnected by regular, formal routes to the nearest Metro stations. We will gauge the passenger demand over the next few days,” Adhir Sandhukhan, an operator on the Narendrapur-New Garia route. For instance, the fleet size of the routes from Majerhat to Joka will be thinner. A huge chunk of this fleet can run along D H Road or EM Bypass to ferry passengers to north and south of these north-south stretches of the Metro, said a member of South Kolkata Auto Operators union.Majerjat, for instance, will be emerging as a major transit point for its link with two other modes of railways – suburban and circular. A large number of autos that are moving along DH Road, now need to run perpendicular to the Metro station. Three routes — Majerhat to Behala Chowrasta, Joka-Taratala and Rash Behari to Behala Chowrasta — will lose passengers the moment Joka-Majerhat service frequency increases. Similarly, the auto routes running parallel to the Metro from Ruby to Garia are to suffer.

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