First time since Covid, 5 lakh people take metro ride in single day

Bengaluru: Around 5,07,000 people travelled on Namma metro on July 4 for the first time since the outbreak of the Covid infection in the state, according to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL). Metro services resumed on September 7, 2020 after a long hiatus following outbreak of the disease. Passengers footfall rose steadily ever since, touching 5.7 lakh on June 4 last year.

According to the BMRCL, it earned around Rs 1.2 crore on June 6, the highest revenue for it in a single day after the outbreak of coronavirus. Usually, Mondays and Fridays are the busiest days for Metro trains in spite of the fact that most of IT employees are working from home and other people are using their own vehicles to workplace due to the fear of Covid.

Still the number of metro passengers is slightly less compared to pre-Covid days. At present, an average of 4.5 lakh people are using metro daily, BMRCL Chief PRO BL Yashwant Chavan said.

According to BMRCL sources, more than 6 lakh passengers were travelling in the metro in October 2019. Metro commuting is a convenient mode of transportation to avoid traffic congestion triggered by rains and other situations.

BMRCL operates Monday to Saturday from 5 AM to 11 PM. Officials said that the service is being provided only on Sundays from 7 am to 11 pm. Metro currently runs 56 km (Purple Line 25.6 km; Green Line 30 km). Before Covid-19, 36 lakh people used to travel by BMTC every day, now this number has gone down to 28 lakh.

The Air-Conditioned (AC) buses have not hit the road in full, due to the increase in diesel prices.

Compared to BMTC, Metro has been successful in attracting passengers very quickly. There is even demand from public for extension of Metro services till midnight.