On day of jams, Delhi Metro’s passenger journeys hit new peak of 7.109 million

The peak is likely to be down to more people choosing to commute by Metro due to restrictions at borders and within city in wake of the farmers’ protest

Updated on: Feb 15, 2024, 05:48:07 IST

By Jasjeev Gandhiok

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The Delhi Metro recorded its highest-ever single-day ridership on Tuesday, with the passenger journey count for the day crossing 7.109 million, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) officials said on Wednesday. Tuesday’s passenger journey count was slightly more than Monday’s count of 7.087 million, and eclipsed the previous high of 7.104 million passenger journeys on September 4, 2023, officials said.

DMRC data showed that the Yellow Line (Samaypur Badli to Millennium City Centre) was the busiest line on Tuesday, with 1.934 million passengers utilising it, followed by the Blue Line (Dwarka Sector 21 to Noida Electronic City/ Vaishali) with 1.914 million passenger journeys and the Red Line (Rithala to Shaheed Sthal) with 757,000 passenger journeys. (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)

“DMRC registered its highest passenger journeys on Tuesday, February 13, with 7.1.09 million journeys across the network. This faith shown by the passengers makes DMRC a major mass transit backbone of the National Capital Region (NCR). The 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,” said Anuj Dayal, principal executive director, corporate communications, at DMRC.

The peak in passenger journeys on Tuesday is likely to be down to more people choosing to commute by Metro in wake of restrictions at Delhi’s borders and within city limits in wake of the farmers’ protest. Visuals of slow-moving traffic near Ghazipur and Sirhaul borders, as well as in Delhi at areas such as ITO, Barakhamba Road, and Africa Avenue were widely shared on social media, which may have prompted more people to ditch plans of travelling by road.

DMRC data showed that the Yellow Line (Samaypur Badli to Millennium City Centre) was the busiest line on Tuesday, with 1.934 million passengers utilising it, followed by the Blue Line (Dwarka Sector 21 to Noida Electronic City/ Vaishali) with 1.914 million passenger journeys and the Red Line (Rithala to Shaheed Sthal) with 757,000 passenger journeys.

DMRC defines passenger journeys as the number of Metro lines used by a single passenger to complete his or her journey. So, if a passenger uses three Metro lines before exiting the network, this counts as three passenger journeys.

Till 2018, DMRC would calculate passenger ridership, that is, the total number of tickets sold and total number of smart cards used by commuters to enter and exit the network. From 2019 onwards, the corporation began to calculate passenger journeys.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jasjeev Gandhiok
Jasjeev Gandhiok is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times, where he covers environment, climate change, the clean energy transition and wildlife at the National Bureau. Gandhiok has over a decade of experience in journalism and is based in Delhi. He has reported extensively on Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). This includes the region's air pollution woes, a polluted Yamuna and on urban wildlife still thriving in the region. He joined HT in October 2021. Prior to that, he had five-year stint at The Times of India in Delhi, where he also covered Delhi, with a focus on environment and wildlife. Gandhiok has covered some recent events around the Capital too, ranging from the farmers' protests, the northeast Delhi riots and the CAA-NRC protests, reporting from the ground on all of these. He also travels across the country to report on how environment and climate change impact everyday life, while also writing on endangered species. His reports in 2019 on toxic leachate from Delhi's landfills led to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) taking suo motu cognisance and ultimately asking the state government to start bio-mining to flatten and remove all three landfills in the capital. He also closely tracks the implementation of government policies on climate, renewable energy and environmental protection. His focus remains on impactful, public-interest journalism which explains how environmental decisions affect people's everyday lives.Read More