The Airport Express Metro Line of the Delhi Metro is on a new high.
After recording a 30 per cent increase in its ridership earlier this year, its footfall continues to grow.
The high-speed corridor has recorded over 13 per cent rise in its readership in just one month since the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) introduced inter-portability of metro smart cards. Metro smart cards were made valid for Airport Express Line from May 1.
“Normal smart cards in Airport Express Line were allowed since May. Since then, we have seen over 2,100 more passengers on the line. The actual figure will be more because we cannot trace those who use the Airport Express Line as an inter-change station ,” said a DMRC official.
In April, the Airport Express Line had registered a ridership of 17,371, whereas the figures for May shot up to 19,466.
Earlier, different separate smart cards and tokens were issued at the six stations on this line as they were valid only for this particular corridor.
In January, the ridership on this line, which otherwise received a very cold response, witnessed a 30 per cent rise. This was due to the corporation reducing fares by nearly 40 per cent. As per the revised structure, the minimum fare on the corridor was now Rs.20 instead of Rs.30, and the maximum was brought down to Rs.100 from Rs.180.
“We have taken a slew of measures to keep the ridership up ever since we took over from Reliance Infrastructure in July 2013. Apart from the fares, the timings of the first service of the day was rescheduled from 5.30 a.m. to 4.45 a.m. from New Delhi and Dwarka Sector 21 to connect with trains of the Indian Railways. Total daily train trips on the corridor have also been increased to 168 from 148 — upping the frequency on the corridor from 15 minutes to 10 minutes and 30 seconds during peak hours,” added the official.
According to data provided by the Delhi Metro, the ridership figures of July 2013 and July 2014 were recorded as 3,12,132 and 3,18,274 respectively, with corresponding average daily ridership of 10,069 and 13,838.
This jumped to 5,38,293 lakh in November, taking the average daily ridership close to 18,000 after the fares were reduced.
