BENGALURU: When its operations ended for the day around midnight on Independence Day, Namma Metro had touched a historic high of 8,25,190 riders on Monday. This was over two lakh more than its previous highest ridership figure of over 6.1 lakh (October 25, 2019). Short loop trains, opening up additional counters, roping in more staff for security checks, taking help of local police outside stations - the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) had to do everything it could to manage the unprecedented crowds spilling over its trains and platforms.
In a rare instance, the Green Line beat the Purple Line by clocking 4,02,068 riders as compared to 2,58,984 on the Purple Line. The Lalbagh station which issued return paper tickets for the Flower Show and National College which issued 80,000 paper tickets for Congress workers were responsible for achieving the feat.
As Shankar Executive Director, Operations and Maintenance, told TNIE, “We ran 163 trips on Purple Line (Kengeri to Baiyappanahalli and back) and 161 trips on the Green Line (Silk Institute to Nagasandra and back). In addition to that, we ran short loop trips running only between Lalbagh Metro station and Nagasandra and National College and Nagasandra on the Green Line.”
Train doors could not be shut at many places due to riders spilling out of coaches. Anjum Parwez, MD, BMRCL, said, “We created history yesterday. It was over 2 lakh more than our previous highest.”