1.37 lakh people travel on first working day after on new metro lines launched

People were seen enquiring about ticketing, the common mobility card named ‘Mumbai 1’ and their mobile app called by the same name. There were multiple help desks stationed on the metro station premises where groups of people were standing. Forms for National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) were being distributed

Mumbai: Over this weekend, nearly 2.63 lakh passengers travelled on the entire 35-km route of Metro Line 2A (DN Nagar-Dahisar East) and Line 7 (Ovaripada-Gundavali). One might assume that these people were out for a joyride. However, on the first working day after the lines opened —January 23, a Monday — the numbers went up slightly.

1.37 lakh people travel on first working day after on new metro lines launched

On Monday, 1.37 lakh people travelled till 10 pm, said officials. It was more than the number of people who travelled each on Saturday (1.29 lakh) and Sunday (1.33 lakh).

Long queues of office-goers, their bags hanging from their shoulders, were seen during peak hours on both the entry points of Metro 7 and Metro 2A. For instance, Gundavali, the station where PM Narendra Modi took a tour of Line 7 on January 19, saw serpentine queues.

People were seen enquiring about ticketing, the common mobility card named ‘Mumbai 1’ and their mobile app called by the same name. There were multiple help desks stationed on the metro station premises where groups of people were standing. Forms for National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) were being distributed.

“Issuing ‘Mumbai 1’ card is a slightly long process as we need to fill passenger’s KYC detail in the system. Apart from this, there is no issue. Moreover, all stations have customer care office where passengers can write their suggestions. Apart from this we have 24*7 call centre also 1800-889-0505,” said an official from Maha Mumbai Metro Operations Corporation Limited (MMMOCL) that operates and maintains the Metro Lines 2A and 7.

Sources said that people had to fill up personal information that was then fed into the system at the ticketing windows, which led to delays in issuing this ‘Mumbai 1’ Cards. To escape this queue, groups of people were seen standing close to tall stickers scanning the QR Codes and/or downloading the Mobile App.

“The arrangement could have been better. There queues were long while a ticket scanning machine seemed to have encountered some technical problem which caused further delay,” said N Shah, who was travelling towards Borivali from Gundavali station.

Even on the platform and inside the metro train, the coaches were congested as headway between two trains is a good eight minutes. As of 1pm on Monday, there were 49,312 passengers, who travelled in the two metro lines.