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This is MMRDA's idea of destination wedding


This is MMRDA's idea of destination wedding
SHARES


Soon you will be able to attend weddings and birthday parties in a Mumbai Monorail coach as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is planning to rent out the services for private functions. The move by MMRDA comes as an aftermath of losses suffered by the rail service.

After nearly seven years of the commencement of the monorail service, MMRDA officials have claimed that the authority is suffering losses of close to ₹8.5 lakh per day. MMRDA operates 97 services through five existing rakes on a daily basis.

The service had initially started out on an eight-km stretch in 2013 but the commercial operations on the complete 19.54-km stretch commenced only on March 4, 2019. The move to rent the service for weddings and birthday parties comes just two days before the Monorail completes a year of commercial operations.

The plan was discussed by the senior MMRDA officials on Monday and the authority is looking to lease out the Monorail in designated time slots for commercial activities. Currently, MMRDA has only five rakes used to operate the services on a full phase, with a gap of 23 minutes between two services in one direction.

“The idea is to rent out the rakes during non-peak hours. We are still working out the modalities of the plan. The purpose of launching such an initiative is to overcome losses,” an MMRDA officer told The Indian Express.

Currently, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking also rent out buses for commercial activities. MMRDA is hoping that the move will help them cope with the losses they have suffered over the years. The authority had estimated that 3.6 crore people would use the service every year. However, in a Right To Information (RTI) filed by the Hindustan Times, it was revealed that only 38 lakhs commuters travelled by Monorail in one year i.e. 10 per cent of its estimated ridership of 3.6 crores. 

As MMRDA looks to rescue the 'white elephant' that has been forsaken, it would be interesting to see if anyone wants a destination wedding in a Monorail coach.

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