Delhi Metro ridership crosses 53,000 as Blue and Pink lines reopen

The Delhi Metro on Wednesday resumed services on the Blue Line (Dwarka Sector 21 to Vaishali/Noida Electronic City) and the Pink Line (Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar), which also meant the opening of nine interchange stations that led to an increase in the number of people taking the Metro.

The Yellow Line, connecting Huda City Centre and Samaypur Badli, together with the Blue and Pink lines registered a total ridership of 53,400 on Wednesday.

Services continued in two shifts, from 7am to 11am and from 4pm to 8pm. The Yellow Line, which was the first corridor to be thrown open to public on Monday, recorded a total ridership of 26,900.

The Blue Line saw 22,600 passengers while 3,900 people travelled on the Pink Line in the morning shift. The opening of these two new lines also made available interchange facilities at nine interchange stations.

From Thursday, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will also resume service on the Violet Line (Kashmere Gate to Ballabhgarh), Red Line (Rithala to Shaheed Sthal/New Bus Adda), and Green Line (Kirti Nagar/Inderlok to Brigadier Hoshiar Singh/Bahadurgarh).

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With all three lines from the Kashmere Gate station becoming operational, Thursday will also be the first true test of DMRC’s crowd management protocols.

“The DMRC will be running 35 trains on the Red Line, which will make 413 trips during the morning and evening hours on Thursday. Similarly, 40 trains will make 344 trips on the Violet Line and 20 trains will make 268 trips on the Green Line,” Anuj Dayal, executive director (corporate communications), DMRC, said.

Dayal said, “The number of trips will be increased subsequently, as will the operational timings, as and when the other lines are opened in a graded manner.”  

On Wednesday, on the Blue and Pink lines, operations largely remained smooth with passengers self disciplining themselves into wearing masks and maintaining social distancing at stations and on trains. However, there were some glitches.

At certain Metro stations, such as New Ashok Nagar and Mayur Vihar Extension, commuters faced issues in recharging their smart cards at ticketing counters. Metro officials were seen pushing back the cards, while asking passengers to get them recharged online. However, card recharge facility was available at all interchange stations.

Ajit Kumar Singh, a resident of New Ashok Nagar, said he was turned away from the station by Metro authorities for not having adequate amount on his Metro card.

“I had to go to Dwarka from New Ashok Nagar. At the station, I got to know that the amount in my card was not enough. Earlier, there used to be a facility to recharge cards at the ticketing counters but today they turned me away saying recharge was not possible. I had to exit the station and recharge it online,” Singh said.

Metro rider Anupama Rastogi said she also faced a similar problem and had to get her brother to recharge her card.

“I wanted to take the Metro to reach my office at Mandi House but my card had insufficient balance. The Mayur Vihar Extension station officials said that there was no facility to recharge smart cards at the counter and it has to be done online. I don’t use online payment modes so I requested my brother to do it,” she said.

DMRC said that recharge facility was available at customer care counters of all operational stations. However, since the recharge system has switched to digital, there are some teething issues which will be addressed, it said.

“Smart card recharge is available at all stations.One can recharge the card by available cashless options be it online or at the customer care centres (using credit/debit card) at the stations. Wednesday’s mights have been some temporary connectivity issue with the POS (point of sale) terminals.These are teething issues which will be sorted out at the earliest,” Dayal said.

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