Mumbai's 1st underground Metro corridor opens; sees low ridership of 15,713 till 9 pm

Mumbai: Mumbai's first underground Metro corridor, the aqua line's phase-1, stretching from Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) to Aarey became operational for the public on Monday morning.

A large number of people came to experience the ride on the first day as the service commenced at 11 am amid cheers from passengers.

Later in the evening, officials said only 15,000 passengers used the financial capital's maiden underground metro for their commute till 9pm on its inaugural day.

The ridership for the first seven hours was much below the estimated 4 lakh commuters per day on which the financial model of the Mumbai Metro Line 3 has been based, sources said.

Vaidehi More, a spokesperson for Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC), said 8,532 passengers used the Aqua line till 6 pm, seven hours after it started commercial operations.

More, however, did not specify the reasons behind the poor ridership figures on the first day.

Several Mumbaikars, excited about the first day travel, arrived at stations before the Metro operation commenced to buy tickets and expressed hope the new service would reduce their commuting challenges.

Some complained of safety door glitches, though officials said they had not received any complaint in this regard, and the entry-exit points being closed at a few stations on the first day of the operation, while some passengers demanded an integrated app for all Metro services in the city.

Some persons took to social media to claim there was a glitch in the mechanism controlling the ticket vending machine.

Transport activist Ajit Shenoy said the poor patronage on the first day may be due to lack of connectivity to any railway station.

"The present route is not through a thickly populated area. The metro fares too are high when compared to suburban railway and there is no last mile connectivity from any stations," he said.

Mumbai resident Ankush Nevre, who works at the Andheri MIDC, said the new service will be very helpful to reach BKC from there.

"I was waiting for this connection for quite some time. I managed to get the first train to BKC at 11.10 am at the MIDC (Andheri). The service will be good (for the people), but there is a need for more signages and boards (for better access to Metro services)," Nevre said.

A person claimed on his X account that an entry-exit point at CSMIA T1 was closed at around 1.30 pm.

Jyoti Trilok, who works at the Sahar Cargo Complex, got down at CSMIA T2 and said the station needs to have more entry and exit points.

Some passengers also expressed unhappiness over multiple apps for different Metro services in the city. They demanded a single app for accessing all the Metro services.

"Should have an integrated app to book tickets and plan journeys. Mumbaikars can't have 14 apps when all the lines are live. Integration and convenience should be there," X user J Vidyasagar said in his post.

Some passengers flagged basic connectivity issues.

"#MumbaiMetro line 3 is special and looks fine as hell. However-You have to walk down at least a 100 steps to get to the station level (Marol). You have to walk at least 10 mins from the CSMIA T2 station to get to Terminal 2 so it's not suitable if you have luggage," Darshan Karkera, a X user wrote in his post.

Many passengers, however, hailed the line, saying it had brought down the commute from more than an hour by road during peak hours to just 25minutes.

"Swanky and new metro 3! The ride was very smooth for first day'¦ there was only a 5mins delay at MIDC stn. Some finishing works still going on'¦..but overall it was a world class experience," wrote Hrishi Sharma, a X user in his post.

The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC), which is executing the 33.5-km-long Colaba-SEEPZ-Aarey JVLR project, has already notified that the regular operation of the Metro on the aqua line will commence from Tuesday.

As per the notification, services will be operated from 6.30 am to 10.30 pm between Monday and Saturday, and from 8.30 am to 10.30 pm on Sundays. The minimum fare for a ride on the Metro line is Rs 10 and maximum Rs 50, as per the MMRC.

Passengers can book tickets using the NCMC (National Common Mobility Card), Mumbai Metro 3 mobile app, and ticket vending machines, among other means.

The corridor between BKC and Aarey road has 10 Metro stations - BKC, Bandra Colony, Santacruz metro, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) T1, Sahar Road, CSMIA T2, Marol Naka, Andheri, SEEPZ, Aarey Colony JVLR. Of these, only Aarey JVLR station is at a grade while all others are underground.

As per MMRC, the daily estimated ridership of the first phase of Aqua line between Aarey JVLR and BKC is 4 lakh, whereas the entire corridor is expected to clock daily ridership of 13 lakh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated the 12.69 km long phase-1 of the BKC to Aarey stretch of Mumbai Metro Line 3.

He travelled from BKC to Santacruz and back during which he interacted with students, beneficiaries of the Maharashtra government's Ladki Bahin scheme and labourers involved in constructing the underground line.