Road restrictions bring bonanza to Delhi Metro
29 Sep 2010
It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good. Delhi Metro's "ridership" increased by a whopping 2.5 lakh on Monday, the first working day after the traffic police enforced restrictions on dedicated lanes for the upcoming Commonwealth Games. This coincided with the phase-out of Blueline buses, leaving commuters a harassed lot.
''Delhi Metro set an all-time record by registering highest ridership figures of 15,56,563. This figure surpassed the earlier record set of 14,44,023 passengers this month on September 6,'' said Anuj Dayal, DMRC spokesperson.
A total of 130 broad-gauge and 18 standard-gauge trains set an all-time record on Monday by carrying over 15 lakh passengers in over 2,300 trips in the Metro fleet. The most used sector was Line 3 (Dwarka sector 9 to Noida/Anand Vihar), which was used by 5,64,646 people, followed by Line 2 (Jehangirpuri to Huda City Centre) with a ridership of 5,31,337 and Line 1 (Rithala to Dilshad Garden) with a ridership of 2,88,276.
Some might find the Metro authorities' glee at the figure a little perverse, considering that it only happened because commuters were in a bind. Many people left their personal vehicles at home and travelled by Metro to avoid traffic jams on road caused by road restrictions. Besides, people who generally commute by bus also used the Metro as DTC took 1,600 Blueline buses off the roads.
"The total ridership figure of the Delhi Metro has been consistently increasing for the past three months, showing 44 per cent increase as the Metro ridership has gone up from around 10 lakh in May 2010 to over 15 Lakh on Monday,'' said Dayal.
DMRC officials said ridership by Metro is expected to go up further in the coming months with the opening of the Airport Express Line (which is expecting daily footfall 25,000) and the Central Secretariat-Badarpur corridor (expected footfall 3.60 lakh) and with the rise in ridership during the games.
To cater to the steep increase in the ridership DMRC will add three broad-gauge and 27 standard-gauge trains in the system during the games. Currently, it keeps four to five trains in its depots as reserve, but during the games, all the trains will be pressed into service. It will also increase frequency of trains during peak hours.