2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Nagpur MahaMetro's celebration on wheels witnesses slowdown
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Nagpur: "Celebration on Wheels" (CoW), the
Nagpur Metro
initiative that lets commuters rent out an entire train for private events saw 280 bookings in over four years, an average of just five in a month.
The idea that took off with enthusiasm in its early days, hasn't really clicked, data shows.
Launched in November 2020 with only three bookings in its debut month, CoW quickly captured the public's imagination. December 2020 alone saw 33 bookings, which remains the highest for a month so far. Bookings steadily rose to 41 in 2021 and surged to 81 in 2022, an 84% year-on-year jump.
Since then, however, the booking numbers have seen gradual decline.
Bookings fell to 72 in 2023, then to 38 in 2024. So far in 2025, only 12 events were logged by the end of May.
A senior MahaMetro official said, "Almost 90% of the celebrations that we have are birthday celebrations. Then in addition to that, even for school trips the trains are booked. Apart from that, off-track events like yoga on the train are also organised."
"For such Celebration on Wheels, special trains are given at whatever time and from whichever station the commuter has demanded, the official said." He said that MahaMetro conducts regular outreach programmes at schools and colleges to promote CoW.
Booking patterns suggest a seasonal trend, with July and August seeing more such activity. With monthly footfall numbers tapering off, Metro authorities may have to rethink how to keep the concept fresh.
