One lakh ride on Navi Mumbai metro in week

The metro has earned Rs 29.78 lakh so far

The Navi Mumbai metrorail has crossed ridership of one lakh commuters within seven days of its launch. The metro has managed to earn Rs 29.78 lakh, and the average daily ridership of the metro is now 16,613. Authorities are hopeful that the metro will soon gain more momentum after prepaid cards are launched.

The Navi Mumbai metro was launched without ceremony on November 17, as it was ready for five months but the state couldn't manage to bring Prime Minister Narendra Modi down for the inauguration. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde finally ordered CIDCO officials to start operation of services without any formal inauguration.

On very first day, the metro witnessed ridership of 11,937. Subsequently the ridership grew and peaked on very next day to 24,229. "The average daily ridership of the metro is 16,613, which peaks during usual rush hours. It will gain momentum in coming days," commented a CIDCO official on condition of anonymity. "It's just one week since the operations have been initiated, but the response is encouraging" he added.

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Most of passengers were seen paying the fare in cash, out of total fare collected, Rs 21.41 lakh was collected in cash, and the rest online. Harish Gupta, Managing Director of Mahametro, which is operating and managing the Metro Line 1, said, "The numbers are encouraging, the service which connects most of the nodes of Kharghar and Taloja will gain momentum. Soon, we will launch metro cards which will help passengers avoid queues. The card holder not have to stand for tickets and enter the station using the cards, saving valuable time. Also, people are talking about this service, which will boost the ridership further," he added.