KOCHI: The Kochi Metro witnessed an average monthly ridership of more than 25 lakh in 2023, with the average daily ridership increasing to 94,982 in December from 79,130 in January. “We made progress in all segments including fare box and non-fare box revenue and ridership last year,” said Kochi Metro managing director Loknath Behera.
“Our effort to increase ridership saw results, and we were able to bring the daily average ridership to 94,982 in December from 79,130 in January, 2023. With the commissioning of the Tripunithura station, we hope the average daily ridership will touch 1 lakh.”
With the commissioning of the Tripunithura station, Phase 1B of the Kochi Metro is expected to be completed by February this year. Set to be the largest station on the network, with an area of 1.35 lakh sq ft, Tripunithura will have a dedicated wall of fame honouring Rama Varma XV for his contribution to the development of railways in Kochi. The station is theme on ‘Dances of Kerala’. A museum dedicated to the dance forms of Kerala has also been set up there.
Since its launch, over 10 crore people have travelled on the Kochi Metro. Of those, 3,11,69,077 people — 30% of the total passengers — travelled in 2023. The year saw a total of 86,845 trips, generating Rs 96.08 crore in fare box income. The precise average monthly ridership was25,974,23, with the per-day ridership having crossed one lakh on 40 days.
The work on Phase 2 of the metro, from JLN Stadium to Infopark in Kakkanad, is progressing. The acquisition of the remaining land is expected to be completed by March 31. The acquisition of 82.50% of the land required for road widening and for viaducts from JLN Stadium to Palarivattom has been completed, Behara said.
“Similarly, 45% of the land acquisition (government land) for the construction of entry and exit buildings for stations has been completed. The remaining land is expected to be acquired by March 31. Our efforts are to complete the project in two years,” he said.
The state government has accorded administrative sanction, amounting to Rs 356.21 crore, for the preparatory work of Phase 2. The cabinet has also approved an additional Rs 24.36 crore to complete the land acquisition for the JLN Stadium-Palarivattom stretch.
Addl Rs 24.36 cr to complete land acquisition for JLN Stadium-Palarivattom stretch. Tripunithura station, Phase 1B likely to be completed by February