As fear of getting stuck in maddening traffic jams due to the dedicated Commonwealth Games lanes prompted hundreds of people to avoid buses, Delhi Metro registered its highest-ever ridership of over 15 lakh on Monday.
Ever since the Central Secretariat-Qutub Minar corridor was integrated with the Qutub Minar-HUDA City Centre (Gurgaon) line, Delhi Metro ridership has been increasing day by day.
With the Delhi Traffic Police earmarking some lanes on major roads exclusively for the use of CWG athletes and delegates, people parked their vehicles at home and took Metro to reach their respective destinations on time.
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Yesterday alone, a total of 15,56,563 people travelled on all the five operational lines of the Delhi Metro, surpassing the earlier record of 14.44 lakh on September 6.
The sudden surge in the ridership can be attributed to the fear of getting stuck in traffic jams due to the dedicated lanes for the Commonwealth Games and the Delhi Government’s decision to withdraw blue line buses from near the CWG venues.
The over-crowded Line 3 that connects Dwarka Sub-city with Delhi’s satellite city of Noida and Anand Vihar, which is close to another satellite city Ghaziabad, recorded the maximum ridership at 5.62 lakh yesterday.
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The Line 2 (Jahangirpuri-HUDA City Centre) registered a ridership of 5,31,337 and Line 1 (Rithala-Dilshad Garden) at 2,88,276.
The ridership is set to increase with the opening of two lines - the showcase Airport Express Line and the Central Secretariat-Badarpur corridor - before the October 3 Games extravaganza begins.
Metro also expects high ridership during the Games as it provides connectivity to 10 of the 11 stadia.
People who buy CWG tickets will be able to enjoy free rides on Metro and the Delhi Transport Corporation buses. The Metro will also run trains at an average frequency of 2.5 minutes on its five lines.
Trains on the Central Secretariat-Badarpur corridor, which connects the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, will run at a frequency of 2.25 minutes.
By the end of the year, DMRC expects its ridership to reach 20 lakh a day.
Currently, over 130 train sets are in operation on the five lines of Delhi Metro with a new train being added to the system every 10 to 15 days. Delhi Metro trains make over 2,300 trips on the five operational lines covering 138 km.