Since the resumption of full DMRC services post 169-day hiatus due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, around 2.5 lakh commuters used the Delhi Metro services till late evening on Monday, the first working day. On Saturday, the DMRC had gone back to its schedule as it was before the metro rail operations were suspended on 22 March 2020 to contain the spread of novel coronavirus. A DMRC official was quoted in a PTI report saying that on Monday, the ridership till 7:30 PM stood at 2,49,884. The three main corridors – Red Line, Yellow Line, Blue Line and Blue Line branch had a ridership of 29,394 commuters, 76,266 commuters, 67,114 commuters and 7,908 commuters respectively.
he Airport Line saw 4,237 riders on the first working day since the resumption of full Delhi Metro services. The Airport Line corridor was reopened on Saturday. According to the official, the ridership for other lines were 10,370 commuters on Green Line, 21,354 on Violet Line, 15,420 on Pink Line, 16,349 on Magenta Line, 1,472 on Grey Line.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has also been reaching out to Delhi Metro commuters through social media to inform them that the services of peak hours are now available in non-peak hours as well. The peak hours of Delhi Metro are from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM and from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM. In order to facilitate passengers, a headway of 2 minutes 45 seconds to 6 minutes will be maintained from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. The DMRC also requested commuters to stagger their journeys so that adequate social distancing can be observed in the Metro.
The services on the Delhi Metro rail network resumed on 7 September 2020 with the curtailed operation of the Yellow Line and Gurugram’s Rapid Metro, since the closure of the urban transporter on 22 March 2020 due to nationwide lockdown.
