KOCHI: The ridership of Kochi Metro, which resumed its operation last week after a gap of five months owing to Covid-19 restrictions, is gradually picking up. Though the metro service is yet to touch its average ridership of 65,000 per day in the pre-Covid days, a positive trend is witnessing in the patronage. 
As per the statistics available with KMRL, the average ridership after one week of resuming the service has reached 8,000. The same was just 5,000 in the initial days.

“Our motto is to provide a safe and secure transport solution for the Kochiites. The present scenario demands an affordable and safe transport option. The number of office-goers, especially woman commuters, is increasing. We are glad that our travellers are adhering to all the safety measures we have implemented,” said Alkesh Kumar Sharma, MD, KMRL.

With the number of people starting to opt for the metro service, the KMRL has started running additional trains during peak hours. If only 10 trains were plying in the initial days, the number has increased to over 15 now. From Monday, the metro has decided to increase the frequency of trains during the peak hours for the benefit of people going to work. 

As part of following the Covid protocol, only 159 passengers are allowed to travel on each train. Of them, only 84 will be allowed to sit and the remaining 75 will be allowed to travel standing. This is in contrast to the maximum capacity of 975 people who were allowed to travel on a train before the outbreak of Covid.