The Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MahaMetro) has recorded over 20 lakh commuters in a month since it started the Garware College to Ruby Hall Clinic and Phugewadi to Civil Court stretches on August 1, The Indian Express reported. The average number of journeys that were made between 6 am to 10 pm stood at 65,000. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Phugewadi to Civil Court and Garware to Ruby Hall Clinic stretch on Pimpri-Chinchwad-Swargate and Vanaz-Ramwadi routes respectively on August 1.
The month of August saw the metro earn over Rs 3 crore in income. The average for earnings each day stood at over Rs 9 lakh.
The 11-kilometre route has 11 stops, including Deccan Gymkhana, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Park, PMC, Civil Court (elevated), Mangalwar Peth, Pune Railway Station, Ruby Hall Clinic, Dapodi, Bopodi, Shivajinagar, and Civil Court (underground).
Owing to the 30% discount offered to commuters on weekends, the response on those days was seen to be higher. As per the MahaMetro data, residents prefer taking the metro on Saturdays and Sundays, the Hindustan Times reported. The data showed that every Sunday, the passenger count shot over one lakh. August 15 emerged as the busiest day for metro travel with a total of 1,69,512 passenger trips.
Shravan Hardikar, managing director, Maha-Metro, said that the facility has bolstered the empowerment of Pune’s public transport system. “In coordination with Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML), feeder bus services will be started on more routes,” he added.
The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) station has the highest number of passenger count with over two lakh people using the PCMC to Civil Court route. Falling on the same route, the station having the lowest passenger count was Kasarwadi with 10,432 passengers.
The Vanaz to Ruby Hall Clinic route saw the Vanaz station having the highest ridership with 1,53,235 trips. Ideal Colony, which lies on the same route, was the station with the lowest ridership at 20,512 passengers.
The MahaMetro has extended its cap for free metro cards to 15,000 people now. Earlier, the cap allowed only 5,000 free cards for people. However, now it will cover the first 15,000 people. So far MahaMetro has given 11,000 cards. The cost of a card in general is Rs 177. Card holders avail a 10% discount daily. Students get a 30% concession.