The Chennai Metro has witnessed a drop in the average number of commuters. The figures have dropped from about 90,000 to nearly 85,000 passengers, according to CMRL sources. Many stations in the newly opened stretch from AG-DMS to Washermanpet still don’t have good patronage, sources said.
“We are exploring all means to find out how to encourage them to use the system,” an official said.
On the new stretch that was opened in February, Mannady seems to be the least favourite station as the average number of people travelling has touched only 1,500.
Passengers say it becomes a tiring and costly affair to use the Metro without feeder services at all stations. At present, only a handful of them stations have share autos and share cars. Krishnaveni M., who travels to Thousand Lights, says, “I have to walk for about 15 minutes in the scorching heat to reach the station or take an auto and pay ₹40. For all this trouble, I might as well take a pool ride in a cab.”
