July witnessed a significant surge in the number of commuters travelling in Chennai Metro Rail, with coaches running packed during the morning and evening peak hours.
The data till July 29 shows that the daily average number of travellers touched 2.68 lakh whereas in June the figure was 2.46 lakh passengers.
According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL), on most of the weekdays, the trains carry close to 2.90 lakh passengers.
There is a significant drop of 20% to 30% in the number of commuters on weekends. On a few days, the number of travellers crossed the 3-lakh mark.
In the phase I and phase I extension project, which is operational with a 54 km network, Corridor 1 from Wimco Nagar to Chennai airport covering stations such as High Court, Washermanpet, Thousand Lights, LIC, Guindy, Alandur, and Chennai airport, attracts more number of commuters than Corridor 2 from Central to St. Thomas Mount, the officials said.
Rush hours
“The crowd increases drastically around 8 a.m. and the surge continues till 10 a.m. when all the office-goers leave for their workplaces and students to colleges and schools. In the evening, the rush starts around 5 p.m. and extends till 8 p.m. when working professionals return home,” said an official. “But as we gradually expand the last mile connectivity options like minibuses and e-autorickshaws from more stations, we hope more commuters switch to Metro,” he added.
