Metro footfall crosses 2L-mark after its services resumed

kolkata: Over 2 lakh passengers availed metro services on Friday since the services resumed on July 16, following the second COVID safety restrictions had been imposed in the state.

The North- South corridor of the metro clocked 202624 footfall on Friday.

Presently, at least 220 services are running and the metro is actively considering adding more trains to maintain social distancing as per COVID protocols.

"The bus services in the city has started but the buses have been charging high fares in all routes citing the increase of petrol or diesel price. So it is much better to avail metro services which is fast and far more spacious in comparison to buses," said Rajib Dey, who works at a private company at Central Avenue.

When the service started on July 16 with 192 rakes, the first day footfall was 128957.

On July 23 it had reached 1,70058.

Service is presently available from Monday to Friday while on Saturdays 104 staff special trains are running allowing emergency workers of various sectors to avail the services.

Earlier, during the pre COVID-19 pandemic era, passenger count used to be over seven lakh on a daily basis.

Last year, during the initial days of COVID-19 pandemic, Kolkata Metro Railway

services were suspended in the last week of March and resumed on September 14 after a gap of 176 days. Then, the daily passenger count used to be over two lakh.