KOCHI: With the city roads getting clogged due to heavy rush of vehicles in the run-up to the Onam holidays, the Kochi Metro has recorded increased commuter patronage with the daily ridership crossing the one-lakh mark consistently last week.
Only on a few occasions did the Metro services touch the one-lakh daily passenger footfall mark consistently, the last time being in the first half of July. The daily ridership exceeded one lakh only on 40 days last year. On average 90,000 passengers travel by metro each day.
The ridership surged since the start of the 10-day Onam festivities on September 6 and a total of 1, 23, 311 commuters availed the modern transport system on Friday (September 13). The daily ridership on September 7 was 1, 22, 574 while that on September 13 was 1,20, 515, a metro spokesperson said.
The metro services proved a boon for daily commuters and office workers to reach their workplaces and back without getting caught in severe traffic jams.
Friday, especially, witnessed traffic congestion in almost all major routes in the city, including Banerjee Road, and SA Road. A serpentine queue of vehicles was also witnessed in Tripunithura Town on Thursday and Friday.
“I was going to my home in Alappuzha from my office at Infopark since the weekend days are holidays. The Kakkanad-Palarivattom stretch witnessed heavy traffic block, resulting in the bus taking over an hour to cover the stretch. Finally, I got down at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and travelled in the Metro which helped me reach the south railway station just in time to catch my train to Alappuzha,” said Aparna Nair, a techie.
Similarly, with Tripunithura becoming a hub of Onam sales, a serpentine queue of vehicles could be seen on Thursday and Friday, forcing many to avail of metro services.
“I was returning from my workplace at Muvattupuzha. The traffic was moving at a snail’s pace. Finally I got down at Tripunithura railway station. Though it’s a 10-minute walk to the metro station, it was worth the effort. I could escape the heavy traffic congestion in Tripunithura town by travelling by metro and reach my house in the city quickly,” said Sandra Thomas, a medical professional working at the Muvattupuzha General Hospital.
Meanwhile, Kochi Metro operated eight additional services daily from September 12 to 14 in view of the heavy rush.