Noida Metro expands parking facilities at five more stations

The Noida Metro Rail Corporation has added parking services at five new stations on the Aqua Line between Noida and Greater Noida, as well as at Sector 51 in Noida, Sector 137 in Greater Noida, and Sector Delta 1 in Greater Noida. The NMRC plans to provide parking facilities at all 21 of its Metro stations as demand grows. Each parking station can accommodate at least 300 vehicles, and the NMRC collects user fees through automatic machines. The Aqua Line has 21 Metro stations and NMRC intends to connect it to the Delhi Metro?s Blue Line via a 300-metre-long air-conditioned footbridge.

The Noida Metro Rail Corporation has added parking services at five new stations to help commuters using the Aqua Line between Noida and Greater Noida or the Delhi Metro, officials familiar with the matter said on Sunday. Previously, the service was only available at three Metro stations: Sector 51 in Noida, Sector 137 in Greater Noida, and Sector Delta 1 in Greater Noida.

The Noida Metro had deployed its staff to run parking facilities at Delta 1 and sector 137 Metro stations earlier in April. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

The Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC), which manages the 30-km Aqua Line, will begin parking services at five additional stations in Noida’s Sector 51, Sector NSEZ, Sector 142, Greater Noida’s Pari Chowk, and Sector 142 on May 1.

“NMRC plans to provide parking facilities at all 21 of its Metro stations as ridership grows and demand for parking space grows,” said Ritu Maheshwari, NMRC’s managing director. NMRC built and operates the 29.7-km-long Aqua Line Metro, which connects Noida’s Sector 51 to Greater Noida’s Delta 1 area.

Each parking station can accommodate at least 300 vehicles, according to NMRC. “Because these stations did not have parking, commuters had to take a taxi or an auto-rickshaw to get there. We can now use our vehicles for last-mile connectivity and easily access the Metro. Therefore, NMRC must provide parking facilities at all Metro stations as soon as possible,” said Poonam Kumar, a daily commuter and sector 118 resident.

Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, inaugurated the Aqua Line in January 2019. It has 21 Metro stations in total. NMRC intends to connect the Aqua Line to the Delhi Metro’s Blue Line via a 300-metre-long air-conditioned footbridge. The distance between the Sector 51 Metro station on the Aqua Line and the Sector 51 Metro station on the Delhi Metro Blue Line is approximately 300 metres. Commuters using the two Metro corridors must currently walk to change stations. “Once the foot-over bridge connects these Metro stations in a year, ridership on the Aqua Line will increase further, and we will increase parking services,” said an NMRC official familiar with the development.