Nearly three hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the two extended routes of the Pune Metro on Tuesday, the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (Maha-Metro) started operating the rail service on both lines.
Over 12,000 commuters travelled on Pune metro’s extended routes – Garware College to Ruby Hall Clinic and Phugewadi to Civil Court – on Tuesday which is almost three times the average daily ridership. The ridership went up to a staggering 30,000 by 9 pm on Wednesday.
Along with the services on the Pune metro’s extended routes, the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML), also flagged off its feeder bus service from the newly operational metro stations much to the delight of passengers.
The average ridership of 4,000 daily commuters was recorded on the Pune metro since last year when the Pune Metro service flagged off from the Pimpri to Phugewadi stretch and from Vanaz to Garware College.
From 5 pm onwards on Tuesday, after PM Modi inaugurated the extended stretches of the two routes, around 12,500 commuters travelled in the Pune metro till 11 pm.
More than seven times jump in ridership of Pune metro
Shravan Hardikar, Maha-Metro Chairman and Managing Director, in an interview with The Indian Express, said, “In six hours on Tuesday, both the stretches collectively recorded a ridership of 12,500. While 7,500 commuters travelled on the Garware College to Ruby Hall Clinic route, 5,000 commuters used the Metro on the Pimpri to Shivajinagar stretch.”
The ridership further went up to an unprecedented height on Wednesday with both the stretches collectively recording a ridership of more than 30,000 till 9 pm.
Hardikar informed that the maximum ridership was recorded on the Vanaz to Ruby Hall Clinic route where 19,500 commuters used the metro train service, while the Pimpri-Shivajinagar civil court route witnessed a ridership of 10,500 commuters used the metro train service.
According to the officials, the residents of Pune were not aware of the launch of new lines, however, the word spread the next day which resulted in more than seven times jump in ridership of the Pune metro.
Pune metro passengers must note that Maha-metro ran the metro train service up to 11 pm, otherwise, the timing is till 10 pm.
Pune Metro new lines route
The two new lines inaugurated by PM Modi are – Phugewadi station to Civil Court station and Garware College station to Ruby Hall-Clinic station. The new sections will connect essential places of Pune city like Pune Municipal Corporation office, Shivaji Nagar, Civil Court, Pune RTO and Pune Railway Station.
The stretch between Garware College and Ruby Clinic is 4.7 km and has a total of seven stations – Garware College, Deccan Gymkhana, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Udyan, Pune Municipal Corporation(PMC), Civil Court, Mangalwar Peth, Pune Railway Station and Ruby Hall Clinic. The stretch between Pimpri Chinchwad to Shivajinagar Court line is 6.9 km and has four new stations -Phugewadi, Dapodi, Bopodi, Shivaji Nagar and Civil Court.
Pune Metro ticket fare
Maha-Metro has announced the new pricing structure for Pune Metro which ensures that ticket rates for all Pune Metro stations will fall within the range of Rs 10 to Rs 35. This step was taken to make the metro services more accessible to a broader segment of the population.
Moreover, the Maha-Metro is also going to provide a 30 per cent concession on ticket fare for students and those using the Pune Metro services on the weekend. The move of Maha-Metro comes to encourage metro usage by daily commuters.