As the doors slid open, the waiting crowd shuffled into packed coaches of Bengaluru’s Namma Metro on Monday, the first full day of commercial operations on the Green Line.
With the 42.3 km network of Phase 1 of the Namma Metro finally thrown open to the public after a decade long wait, several Bengalureans chose to skip the city’s infamous morning traffic by taking the Green or Purple line.
According to Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), Monday saw a surge in commuter traffic with over 3.13 lakh passengers taking a ride. While the Purple Line saw 1.92 lakh passengers, the newly opened Green Line had 1.20 lakh commuters.
This is a considerable jump in traffic for Namma Metro, which was seeing a daily ridership of 1.75 lakh just a few months ago.
The 24.22km Green Line connecting Nagasandra in the north and Yelachenahalli in the south, was inaugurated on Saturday, with President Pranab Mukherjee flagging off the first train.
With 24 stations including terminals, the entire journey on the Green Line can be covered in 45 minutes including stoppage. While the stretch between Sampige Road to Peenya was thrown open in March 2014, the corridor between Peenya and Nagasendra became operational in May 2015. The latest leg connects the remaining ten stations in the south until Yelachenahalli.
For the first time, commuters can also switch from the Green Line to the Purple line or the other way around at Majestic, Asia’s biggest underground metro station.
The Purple Line which connects Byappanahalli in the east and Mysore road in the west can be covered in 35 minutes including stoppage. The Purple Line has been fully functional since April 2016.
With Phase 1 of Namma Metro now fully operational, BMRCL hopes to increase the footfall to 5 lakh in the coming months.