Flexi work timing mooted to avoid overcrowding in Mumbai trains

Flexi-timing to manage overcrowding and integrated ticketing that will allow Mumbaikars to travel unlimited kilometres in the suburban railway by paying 50 paise per kilometre are some of the ideas mooted by the railways officials to improve efficiency and safety records.

The ideas have been shared in a draft report shared by railway officials with the members of a Parliamentary Accounts Committee.

To manage overcrowding in the Mumbai suburban system, flexi-timing in offices with biometric attendance that allows employees to come in late and go out late has been suggested. All schools and colleges should start before 7:30 a.m. or after 11 a.m., said the report.

Railways, municipalities and ports can shift their “weekly offs” to Wednesdays and Thursdays from the traditional offs of Saturdays and Sundays, it further added. This will ease the pressure on employees, a move which will lower accidents due to boarding on moving trains.

The Railways will follow the method of biometric attendance as soon as the attendance equipment is fitted. Additionally, the Railways has said that integrated ticketing of monorail, buses and metros being planned by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) should also include shared taxis and suburban trains.

In the scheme as envisaged, the per kilometre rates to achieve break-even of each mode of transport has been identified, and employers can be made to pay the break-even rate for their employees.

The no profit-no loss per kilometre rate is: ₹8 for metro, ₹2 for buses, ₹1 for monorail, ₹3 for shared taxis and 50 paise for suburban trains. An integrated ticketing system will save time spent in queues and hassles of dealing with lack of change in currency.

While the exact contours and how the scheme will be implemented is not provided, the draft report does say that the quantum of payment can be decided on a lump-sum basis using yearly surveys of services rendered and services used by each mode and each office separately.

“Under the scheme of suburban ticketing, every commuter is expected to travel by more than two or three modes of transport out of the five listed above. Travel on suburban trains can be unlimited but kilometres allowed to each commuter by other modes will be limited for every month and accounted for by swiping the commuters’ integrated card into the devices fitted at metro stations, bus and monorail entrances or taxi meters. Unused kilometres can be carried forward,” it said.

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