NEW DELHI: The average ridership of the Delhi metro shows an increase, according to the figures shared by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation(DMRC). The average monthly line utilisation for May was 46,99,807 and for June was 47,20,168 in this year.
Line utilisation calculates a Metro journey in term of the number of corridors used by a passenger. “Earlier, ridership was calculated only in terms of entry and exit of the passenger, which did not reflect the length of the journey or the number of corridors used. However, with the expansion of the Metro network with 27 interchanges, the exact utilisation of the Metro services can be calculated,” a spokesperson of the DMRC told The Morning Standard.
On Wednesday, DMRC’s official Twitter handle shared that on 29 July, it saw a total of 59,05,431 journeys which was the highest so far. The DMRC statistics show the average distance travelled in the past three years by a metro commuter has increased by around one kilometre.
In May 2017, the number was 16.49 kilometres, the number rose by almost 50 per cent in 2018 at 17.04 km and in 2019 May, the number has reached 17.99 km. The highest utilisation in terms of the corridor was the Yellow Line with 14, 28,285 commuters in May and 14,49,839 commuters in June this year.
Stating that false claims have been made by politicians over metro ridership, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri took to Twitter to laud the rising numbers of metro riders.
“False narratives invariably collapse. Contrary to falsehoods spun by political novices about metro ridership, metro numbers continue to rise. 51,61,980 journeys performed yesterday. Facts speak for themselves (SIC),” Puri tweeted. The metro ridership has lately been in the news after the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal shared his plan of making Metro rides free for women commuters.