There was a drop in average ridership in October last year

After recording a drop in average ridership in October last year, the Delhi Metro has registered a steep rise in ridership figures, with nearly 27 lakh commuters taking the rapid transit network daily in February, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said on Thursday.

The DMRC said between the opening of a corridor on the Magenta Line in December and a section of the Pink Line on Wednesday, metro ridership has seen an upward trend.

Interchange stations

The total number of interchange stations has now grown to 16 and the operational span of the network has expanded to 252 km.

“The highest [daily average] ridership achieved in December 2017 was 25.64 lakh, while in January 2018, the figure stood at 26.85 lakh. The highest ridership in February has been even higher — 26.98 lakh,” the DMRC said in a statement.

A senior official said the five new interchange stations — Azadpur, Netaji Subhash Place and Rajouri Garden on the Pink Line; and Botanical Garden and Kalkaji Mandir on the Magenta Line — will enable commuters to have access to a number of alternate and shorter routes across Delhi and the National Capital Region. “This is for the first time that a record five new interchange stations have been added to the network in a period of just a little over two months,” the official said.

While the 21.56 km-long Majlis Park-Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus section of the Pink Line was opened to public on Wednesday, the 12.94 km-long Kalkaji Mandir-Botanical Garden corridor of the Magenta Line was opened on December 25.

The 11 old interchange stations are — Kashmere Gate, Rajiv Chowk, Central Secretariat, Sikanderpur, Yamuna Bank, Kirti Nagar, Dwarka Sec-21, New Delhi, Ashok Park Main, Inderlok and Mandi House.

“Metro ridership, after a drop in October 2017, is registering a steady increase. In January 2018, the overall ridership of Delhi Metro was 69,000 more than the preceding month, indicating an upward trend... The average monthly ridership increased by 80,000 passengers in February,” the DMRC statement said, adding that the the average daily ridership of Kalkaji Mandir-Botanical Garden section was about 45,000 in January, it said.

About 49,000 passengers travelled by Magenta Line daily in February, which indicates an increase of over 30,000 daily in the rest of the corridors, the DMRC said.