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Pune Metro sees lull in ridership in April
Between April 6 and April 15, Pune metro ridership crossed 5,000 only over the weekend while on weekdays it remained below 5,000
While nearly five lakh people took the metro in the month of March, the ridership has drastically come down ever since with most metro stations wearing a deserted look.
On March 6, the number of riders on the Vanaz to Garware route and PCMC to Phugewadi route were 37,752 which has come down to only 5,122 on April 6. Between April 6 and April 15, ridership crossed 5,000 only over the weekend while on weekdays it remained below 5,000.
Hemant Sonawane, PRO, Maha Metro, said, “The rush is not like what it was in the first week. Still on weekends, there are more people coming for rides than on weekdays. Once the route is expanded, more riders will be attracted towards the metro on a daily basis.”
Right now, the metro is only operating on 12 km routes – Pimpri to Phugewadi (7.03 km) and Vanaz to Garware college (4.91 km).
“Although they are operating on a partial corridor, ridership should not be at such a low level. The success of the metro will only be known when traffic congestion reduces on roads and the pollution level also goes down. Right now, that is not happening,” said Prashant Inamdar, convener of Pedestrians’ First.
On Friday, when this reporter took a ride, the rush was very less as compared to what it was in the second week of March even during the afternoon hours. Three ticket counters which were operational earlier have been reduced to only one.
“On weekends, we are seeing a greater rush of people as compared to weekdays. Still in the evening hours, more crowds are witnessed,” said an official at the ticket counter.
H S Raut, who was taking the third ride in the metro, said, “This is the least crowd I can see in the metro. It is my first ride in the month of April. I feel the rise in temperature is also one of the reasons for ridership going down during afternoon hours.”
Sunita Patil, who was taking a ride with her six-year-old son, said, “This metro will be very beneficial going ahead in future. I hope the route is expanded soon so more people can take advantage of it.”
