Chennai Metro Information: Metro footfalls cross 1L, nonetheless simply 15% of estimated each day ridership | Chennai Information

CHENNAI: Because the festive season begins and extra folks begin returning to work from their workplace, each day footfalls in metro trains crossed one lakh on Wednesday — the best since practice providers resumed on June 21 after lockdown leisure.
In August, the each day patronage was 73,356, which was 64% of the pre-Covid each day common patronage of 1.16 lakh. Although the ridership touched one lakh reaching 88% of the pre-Covid each day common, it’s nonetheless only15% of the estimated ridership for the 45km phase-1 corridors.

On Wednesday, a complete of 1,02, 855 folks travelled in metro trains throughout the 54km phase-1 and phase-1 extension corridors. CMRL officers attributed the rise in footfalls to the pageant consumers, officegoers, college students returning to colleges and faculties and air passengers flying out and in of town. “If this continues, we hope to the touch pre-Covid numbers quickly,” an official stated. In July, a median 59,553 folks travelled each day.
Officers stated Central metro, which is the underground interchange, airport, Thirumangalam, Excessive Court docket, Guindy and Alandur metro stations have been the gang pullers attracting wherever between 3,250 to 7,300 passengers each day since September1.
Regardless of opening the brand new 9km line in north Chennai, which was anticipated to spice up patronage by 30%, metro trains within the metropolis have nonetheless had solely a fraction of the ridership estimated in the course of the preliminary levels of the undertaking. Whereas passengers attribute it to the excessive minimal ticket fare, specialists blame it on the poor last-mile connectivity. “We’re additionally working trains solely with 50% occupancy,” an official stated. “The cabs and share autos we operated for last-mile connectivity had been stopped because of the pandemic and our practice providers had been additionally suspended in the course of the lockdowns. As soon as some normalcy returns and trains are additionally to function with full occupancy, we are going to provoke work to carry again cabs or share autos as a typical mode of last-mile connectivity throughout all stations,” the official added.