New Delhi, Jul 13 (PTI) There has been a gradual rise in the Delhi Metro’s average daily ridership over the last three months due to the reopening of schools and organisations following Covid-induced closures, a top DMRC official said.
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Managing Director Vikas Kumar said on Tuesday evening that several metros across the globe have seen a reduction of about 20 per cent in their ridership due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the Delhi Metro, the average daily ridership in July stood at 42.64 lakh. The ridership figures for June and May were 41.90 lakh and 39.48 lakh, respectively, suggesting that there has been a gradual increase, he said.
The pre-Covid ridership (journeys or line utilisation) was about 60 lakh.
The DMRC uses the metric of journey or line utilisation, which is calculated by the number of corridors passengers use to reach their destination.
Kumar said the reopening of schools and several organisations operating in the hybrid mode (combining work from office and home) have led to an improvement in ridership figures in the past few weeks.
He said he hopes the Delhi Metro will reach the pre-Covid ridership by the end of December.
“During the initial phase of the pandemic, people got used to shopping online and this trend continues. So, this factor too has affected the ridership as fewer people are going to markets to shop,” he added.
The Yellow Line still accounts for the largest share of ridership at 28.13 per cent, followed by the Blue Line at 22 per cent, according to data shared by officials.
The DMRC’s phase IV project, work on which began in December 2019, has also been impacted by the pandemic, officials said.
Officials said the Majlis Park-Maujpur corridor of the phase IV project is expected to be completed “on schedule” by November 2024. However, timelines for the other two lines may be reviewed owing to constraints imposed by the pandemic.
Asked if he saw any cost escalation due to the pandemic, Kumar said he didn’t see any major cost overrun due to the timelines of the phase IV project but timelines might be impacted due to the pandemic.
Currently, the DMRC is undertaking construction work on 65.2 km of three priority corridors spanning 45 stations under the project — Janakpuri West-RK Ashram Marg (28.92 km) and Majlis Park-Maujpur (12.55 km), which are extensions of the already operational Magenta Line and Pink Lines respectively, and Tughalakabad-Aerocity (23.62 km) that is being built as ‘Silver Line’ to connect Violet and Airport Lines. PTI KND DIV DIV
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