Aqua Line records highest ridership on Monday since it resumed services on September 7

Noida: The Noida Metro Rail Corporation’s (NMRC) Aqua Line is witnessing a steady rise in footfall since it resumed services on September 7, after the lockdown.

Noida: The Noida Metro Rail Corporation’s (NMRC) Aqua Line is witnessing a steady rise in footfall since it resumed services on September 7, after the lockdown. On Monday – November 9 – it recorded a ridership of 7,165, while on September 7, its ridership was 600. This is an increase of approximately 12 times in two months of resuming services, the NMRC said.

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Ritu Maheshwari, NMRC’s managing director, said, “This rise can be attributed to the fact that passengers have faith in the safety standards of NMRC and consider the Aqua Line as a safe and secure mode of public transport during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.”

Sandhya Sharma, deputy general manager of NMRC, said that people use the metro to get to their offices and workplaces. “Some people travel for Diwali shopping as well. We are hopeful that the footfall will further increase in the coming days,” she said.

From September 7 to 11, metro services were available in the morning hours (7am to 11am) and evening hours (5pm to 9pm), at an interval of 15 minutes. From September 12, the Aqua Line started its full fledged operations running trains throughout the day (6am - 10pm).

On September 12, it had recorded a ridership of 2,148 passengers and since then the ridership has seen a steady rise. The NMRC ridership data of November shows the footfall has remained between 4,000 and 6,000 per day. On weekends, the ridership is relatively lesser.

However, the post lockdown ridership is still significantly low as compared to the pre-lockdown period. The services of Aqua Line metro were suspended on March 22 due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. The Aqua Line had recorded 19,064, 17,720 and 16,007 commuters on March 16, 17 and 18, respectively.

NMRC had ensured all precautions necessary for prevention of the spread of Covid 19 before resuming services, said officials. Sharma said NMRC is taking all necessary measures to ensure a safe journey for Aqua Line commuters. “The NMRC trains are fully sanitised after each trip. The stations, platform and other contact areas like call buttons of lifts, AFC gates, handle belts of escalators & staircases, POS machines etc. are also sanitised at regular intervals. The e-rickshaws are regularly sanitised after every journey,” she said.

The 29.70 km long Aqua Line, which connects Noida to Greater Noida, has 21 stations out of which 15 are in Noida and six in Greater Noida.