Bengaluru: It appears Namma Metro recently served a passenger who neither tapped a card nor bought a token.A video clip of a rat scurrying beneath the seats of a Metro coach has surfaced on social media, showing passengers looking around and attempting to locate the uninvited co-passenger as it darted from one side of the coach to another.The exact Metro line or station where the video was recorded is not clear. The person who posted it captioned the video: “Today, unexpected passenger: Namma Metro.”The coach appeared to be relatively empty, suggesting the incident may have taken place during non-peak hours. But how the rodent managed to get inside a moving Metro coach has raised questions, particularly given the cleaning and hygiene protocols followed by Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL).A BMRCL official said the corporation was not aware of the social media post and described the sighting as surprising. “I’m not aware of the post. It is surprising to see a rat roaming inside a Metro coach. It should not have happened. The matter will be brought to the notice of the operations and maintenance wing,” the official said.Meanwhile, many netizens saw the funny side of things. Some users wondered how it had managed to enter without a token, while others suggested it was simply “taking part in the rat race”. A few responses featured GIFs of cats, hinting at what might have happened had one of them been on board.Animals making their way onto Metro premises is not entirely unheard of. Dogs and cats have occasionally been spotted at stations, while cattle have also found their way onto station premises. A rat inside a coach, however, appears to be a first-of-its-kind incident.For now, the rodent’s destination remains unknown. Its fare status, at least, appears to be beyond dispute: unpaid.
