NEW DELHI: There has been a gradual rise in Delhi Metro’s average daily ridership over the last three months with the reopening of schools and organisations operating in hybrid mode being the contributing factors, a top DMRC official has said.
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) chief Vikas Kumar on Tuesday evening said several metros across the globe have seen a reduction of about 20 per cent in their ridership due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
For the Delhi Metro, the average daily ridership in July stood at 42.64 lakh. The ridership figures for June and May were 41.90 lakh 39.48 lakh respectively, suggesting that there is a gradual increase, he said. A senior official said, the pre-Covid ridership (journeys or line utilisation) was about 60 lakh.
DMRC uses the metric of journey or line utilisation, which is calculated by the number of corridors passengers use to reach their destination. Kumar said the reopening of schools and several organisations operating in hybrid mode (from office and work from home provisions) have led to an improvement in ridership figure in the past few weeks, even as he expressed hope that by the end of December, it would catch up with the pre-Covid level.
“During the initial phase of the pandemic, people got used to shopping online and this trend continues. So, this factor too has affected the ridership as less people are going to markets to shop,” he added. The Yellow Line still accounts for the largest segment of ridership (28.13 per cent) followed by the Blue Line (22 per cent), according to data shared by officials.
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