The city of Mumbai is one of the worst affected in India and keeping the increasing number of cases in mind, the Mumbai Metro, which is used by lakhs of commuters every day, was kept closed even when the lockdown was being lifted. However, under Unlock 5.0, the state government has allowed the services to resume after seven months.
The Ghatkopar-Versova metro line service started from Monday, October 19, 2020, however, the services did not receive a good response on the first day. Data reveals that only 10,197 passengers travelled during the day. The facility was made available by the government after thorough observation, whereby safety checks and various health security measures were kept in place.
Officials have said that the Metro has seen a low response from commuters and no long queues at ticket windows and security windows were observed on the first day. Meanwhile, the entrance and lanes have been limited at the metro stations, and not many passengers were seen at the station.
As per the new guidelines, a metro train can carry only 100 passengers seated and 260 passengers standing. But on the first day, not all the available seats seemed to be fully occupied. A representative who travelled on the route twice in a day noted only about 50 passengers travelling at a time.
Metro-1 connects two important suburban railway stations, Andheri and Ghatkopar, and the route, on a normal day, is always crowded. However, the number of passengers on the metro line was affected on Monday as the suburban railways are not currently accessible to all commuters.
Passengers at the metro stations were allowed only after checking the temperature, and they were seen collecting tickets or tokens at the counter, despite the officials encouraging the option of QR code for tickets, whereby the number of people using the latter was less on the first day. At present, this route will have 200 round trips per day with a frequency of six and a half to eight minutes.
Data released by the department shows that a total of 183 rounds were completed by 7 pm on the first day, whereby more than 10,000 commuters used the services during this phase. The number was drastically low in comparison to the 4-4.5 lakh passengers who used to travel on the metro in a day, with around 350 to 400 ferries. Currently, Metro services are operational only from 8.30 am to 8.30 pm.
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