Ridership on Aqua Line increases by 30% in two months

The Noida Metro Rail Corporation(NMRC) on Tuesday said that the ridership on its 29.707-km long Aqua Line that connects Noida with Greater Noida witnessed an increase of around 30% within two months of its operations.

The Uttar Pradesh government had launched this Metro link on January 25 this year. The NMRC, however, opened the Aqua Line for passengers use on January 26.

“The Aqua Line witnessed a ridership of 13,000 on the very first day we opened the link for passengers use. As of March 25, the daily ridership has reached around 17,000 passengers within two months. It means the line has witnessed an increase in ridership by 30%,” an NMRC spokesperson said.

“Our top 5 stations with the highest ridership are – Sector 51, Sector 76, NSEZ, Knowledge Park – II and Pari Chowk. The ridership increased by almost 57% in March. The Line touched the highest ridership of 17,164 on March 19”, an NMRC official said.

The linking of the Aqua Line with the Blue Line via a walkaway is believed to be one of the reasons behind the ridership going upwards.

“The increase in ridership comes in after we connected Aqua Line with Blue Line via a walkway and an E-rickshaw carriageway. We also provide parking facilities at some stations. Also, we started a feeder bus service that has helped us in an increase in ridership,” the official added.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation started passenger services on 6.675km Blue Line stretch on March 9, 2019. The Blue Line stretch passes through Aqua Line’s sector 51 Metro station. “We have connected Aqua Line’s sector 51 Metro station with sector 52 Metro station of Blue Line. It has benefited passengers and impacted the ridership,” the official said.

The services on the Aqua Line, which has 21 stations, are available from 6am to 10pm from Monday to Saturday. On Sunday the Metro services start at 8am to and last till 10pm.

The NMRC runs 10 trains on this link which make 163 trips daily with a frequency of 10-15 minutes providing deeper penetration into Noida and Greater Noida’s pockets.

All the 21 Metro stations on this line are elevated.

First Published: Mar 27, 2019 17:05 IST