IT crowd helps Bangalore Metro break two-minute barrier, cross 3 lakh ridership

By clocking a ridership of 3,07,543 on both Purple and Green Lines by 10pm, it registered a 50 per cent jump over its previous highest record, marked on New Year’s eve. 
Crowd management was a huge task for security personnel at Kempe Gowda Metro Station, on Monday| Nagaraja Gadekal
Crowd management was a huge task for security personnel at Kempe Gowda Metro Station, on Monday| Nagaraja Gadekal

BENGALURU: Namma Metro touched two major milestones on Monday, the first working day after the entire Phase-I was commissioned. By clocking a ridership of 3,07,543 on both Purple and Green Lines by 10pm, it registered a 50 per cent jump over its previous highest record, marked on New Year’s eve. 


It also ran three special short loop trains with a 2-minute frequency from the Nadaprabhu Kempa Gowda (Majestic) Metro station to Baiyappanahalli between 9.40 am and 10.30am. Never in its six-year history has Metro run trains with a frequency less than 4 minutes. 


Monday was also the first time that Metro ran trains from 5 am to 11 pm on both the lines. The surge in ridership was driven by the IT crowd residing along the areas from Nagasandra to Yelachenahalli stretch heading to Baiyappanahalli. BMTC feeder bus services and office cab services were available from Baiyappanahalli and Swami Vivekananda Road to the IT hubs of ITPL, Whitefield and K R Puram. 


A Metro official said, “A very huge chunk of the morning traffic comprised IT professionals heading from Nagasandra, Mysore Road and Yelachenahalli to Baiyappanahalli. The same crowd returns in the evening from Baiyappanahalli.”


With wave after wave of passengers flooding the Kempe Gowda station from North and South Bengaluru, the BMRCL operations team was on their toes, monitoring every single minute. M Dhoke, in-charge of Operations and Maintenance, said,”We almost touched 18,000 passengers from 9 am to 10 am. This is the second time we have crossed that figure.” 

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com