My first ride in the Mauritian Metro Express

Tonight’s ride in the metro was totally unplanned.

Since I had to drive Dhaneesha to her annual office’s party in Port Louis this evening, I promised Dhanvin that I will take him for a ride in the metro. As any other kid (and some adults too), he was excited as this was a totally new thing. Till now, he only spotted the metro a couple of times while we were in Rose Hill. So, after dropping her, we parked the car in Caudan and walked to the Victoria’s Metro Station.

In fact, I was going to post this bunch of text below in Facebook but finally to do in on my blog here, because its so much convenient and also, easy to find it again in the future…

The ride in Metro Express was good, though scary for the first seconds as we were sitting at a bit in the middle of the train and you could see the whole thing wriggling like a snake lol.

Unlike what I expected, the ride isn’t totally smooth and silent. It somewhat shakes a bit when you are seated somewhere in the middle. I wonder what people living around the metro tracks feel when they are in their homes?

But when we were in the first seat on our way back, we did not feel anything.

While travelling and reaching the stations, I expected the diagram on top of the doors to light up to show the current position of the train / station reached but it did not. That would really be nice and of great help.

At Rose Hill :

When getting down the metro in Rose Hill, it should have been possible for people to jump to the other lane at Rose Hill without having to get down to ground level and go up again. It should have been just like in Port Louis.

The journey ( Pl-RH) was very quick which is very good but we need to know what impact this has on the whole road network as we all know that the metro has upmost priority (by law) over all other vehicles. Time will tell if ministers and police will respect this priority.

Just imagine all vehicles stopping to allow some ministers and the president to drive at high speed with their army of police motorbikes! The ministers surely reach their destinations faster but meanwhile, everyone is angry because they are forced to stop, sometimes furiously by the police officers…

I find that the seats might be slippery and thus somewhat dangerous in case of sudden braking. Also, if many people are using this means of transport system, more hand bars would be recommended and also, straps can be helpful.

I purchased a ticket at each station. Dhanvin ( 5 yrs old) didn’t need one. The staff in stations 🚉 at PL and RH were helpful. Luckily, the machine did not run out of cash, as reported earlier.

Just like me, many people were also ‘testing’ this new means of transport, even at that time of the night (7-8pm). When reaching Rose Hill, a good majority of the same passengers jumped on the same metro again to ride back to Port Louis.

Lastly, although there is barely a bunch of people at night, travelling at night isn’t recommended at all if you want to do some sight seeing. Because the wagons are very well lit, all the window panes show the reflection of the inside of the wagons. So, at night, you can barely notice anything outside.

Overall, I liked the ride today. Just for the record, this is my first time in a “metro” although I have once been in a train in India more than 10 years back. The metro project is sure a good thing for the country but I still believe that there are many other higher priorities.

I just hope that in some months (or years), the authorities won’t need to apply a vehicle toll system in some regions (like Port Louis) in order to force the population to use the metro system and then, praise how people have adopted this new means of transport. If the authorities really want to make a difference, so why don’t they stop giving duty free cars to top officials? Why don’t these people travel by metro (where applicable?).

Oh yes, the kid totally loved it although he was not able to see anything outside and I had to keep on replying to his questions all the time (to and from Port Louis – Rose Hill). I told him that we will travel again, but during day time.

So, that was a quick post. Thanks all for reading 😉

So, anyone willing to share their experience, suggestions and critics?