Mumbai: Metro One to run more services amid increase in number of riders

Increase in ridership has made Versova - Andheri - Ghatkopar metro rail operator to increase its services starting February 1.

On Tuesday, Mumbai Metro One, the operator of the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar metro rail line, announced the addition of 18 more trips along the 11.4-kilometre route.

Since the launch of Metro 2A and 7 on January 20, there has been a rise in the number of passengers using the mass rapid transit system.

Weekday trips will now rise from 380 to 398. This will increase the passenger capacity by about 27,000.

The VAG corridor currently carries over a crore commuters a month and over 4,00,000 commuters on weekdays.

The Mumbai Metro One will also increase train frequency during peak hours from nearly 4 minutes earlier to 3 minutes, 40 seconds, which will significantly help to decongest Ghatkopar Metro Station, according to a statement from the operator.

Train services will continue to run at a frequency of every 5–8 minutes during off-peak hours.

The daily ridership of D.N. Nagar and Western Express Highway has increased by 8,000 and 6,000, respectively, since the launch of the Yellow and Red Metro lines. Commuters from both lines use Metro One in the off-peak direction to Ghatkopar in the morning and return in the off-peak direction in the evening, therefore, accommodating additional commuters has not been a problem for Mumbai Metro One. The Yellow and Red metro lines have been a hit with commuters since the moment they opened. It served over 10 lakh passengers in just one week.