BENGALURU: Over 17.71 crore passengers have used Namma Metro since the day it was launched in the city from the MG Road Metro station on October 20, 2011. A surprising statistic that has emerged is that the Bangalore City Railway Metro station has the minimum footfall per day out of 40 Metro stations of Phase-I, offering a sharp contrast to the next station, the Kempe Gowda Metro station which has five times its ridership.
Another interesting statistic that has emerged is that on the day of the Karnataka bandh, there were only 1,450 commuters who travelled on Metro trains the entire day. A single Metro train can accommodate a maximum of 975 passengers.A S Shankar, Executive Director of Operations and Maintenance of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation, told The New Indian Express, “We have transported 17,71,98,953 passengers on our trains from October 20, 2011 up to December 27, 2017.”
The average ridership per day ranges between 3.6 lakh and 3.7 lakh commuters while the weekend average is 3.05 lakh commuters per day. “The ridership in Purple Line is high during weekdays and the ridership in Green Line is higher during weekends and general holidays,” he added.The 4-lakh barrier has been breached twice. The maximum occupancy has been achieved on September 28, 2017, with the ridership touching 4,10,050 commuters and the second highest was on October 13 with the ridership touching 4,04,920.
The Kempe Gowda Interchange Metro station which links both the North-South and East-West Corridors is the busiest station averaging 27,435 riders a day. “The Bengaluru City railway station has an average of 5,663 commuters per day, making it the station with the minimum footfall,” Shankar said.Despite being located very near the back entrance of the KSR Railway station, it now appears as if the delay in constructing a foot overbridge between the Metro and railway station and the steep staircase to be scaled to reach the railway station have clearly put off commuters from accessing this entry.
The MD chose to remain tightlipped on the operational losses.BMRCL is looking at breaking all ridership records on December 31 this year as Metro services have been extended up to 2 am of January 1, 2018. Last year, it breached the 2 lakh barrier for the first time on December 31, 2016.
Asked about specific ridership details after the commercial launch of the full Phase-I on June 18, the Executive Director said that over 6.5 crore passengers (6,60,54,738) have travelled on both the Purple and Green Lines. The revenue earned through ridership has crossed `173 crore, statistics reveal.