Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Tuesday recorded its highest passenger journeys at 71.09 lakh, beating the previous record of 71.03 lakh created in Sept last year. Many people opted for Delhi Metro and kept their vehicles at home due to traffic diversions for the farmers’ protest.
In contrast, 70.87 lakh passenger journeys were recorded on Monday. In comparison to Sept 4, 2023, when the previous record of 71.03 lakh passenger journeys was created, DMRC registered an additional 60,000 passenger journeys on Tuesday.
DMRC defines passenger journey as the number of metro lines used by a passenger to complete his or her journey. However, ridership data includes total tickets sold and Metro cards used by commuters to exit a station. Delhi Metro used to calculate passenger ridership till 2018, but it started coming up with passenger journeys from 2019.
Anuj Dayal, principal executive director, corporate communications, DMRC, said, “DMRC registered its highest passenger journeys on Feb 13, 2024, with 71.09 lakh journeys being performed in the network. This faith shown by the passengers makes DMRC a major mass transit backbone of NCR. Delhi Metro is continuously working towards further improving the overall commuting experience of the passengers and would like to thank the passengers for their patronage and support.”
“Delhi Metro is an environment-friendly system. When more passengers prefer the Metro over their private vehicles, there is a reduction in vehicular emissions, which helps in improving the air quality of the city and its peripheries,” added Dayal.
Many commuters said they chose the Metro to avoid the chaos on roads due to the farmers’ protest. Ankita, who resides in Noida, said, “I usually take a cab to reach my office at Mandi House. However, since I wanted to avoid traffic jams, I have been taking the Metro since Tuesday to ensure that I reach the office on time.”
Another commuter said since there are traffic diversions in place due to farmers’ protest, he has been opting for the Metro, which is comfortable and safe public transport.
DMRC data shows that of the total 71.09 lakh passenger journeys recorded on Tuesday, the maximum rush was witnessed in Yellow Line, which saw 19.34 lakh passenger journeys. It was followed by Blue Line, which reported 19.14 lakh passenger journeys, and Red Line at 7.57 lakh passenger journeys. Yellow and Blue Lines are the busiest lines in the DMRC network.
In 2023, DMRC had recorded 2,032,342,972 (over 2 billion) passenger journeys, making it the highest ever passenger trips recorded in a year.
Delhi Metro witnessed a major reduction in footfall following the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 and the subsequent waves. Services were suspended from March 22, 2020 to Sept 6, 2020 and from May 10, 2021 to June 6, 2021.
Metro trains operated with reduced capacity for nearly two years and started functioning with 100% seating and standing capacity since 2022. TOI had earlier reported that Delhi Metro has surpassed its pre-Covid passenger journeys on a consistent basis from 2023 onwards.
