Kochi Metro rides on joy rides

KOCHI: Riding on the joy rides the Kochi Metro recorded a revenue of Rs 4.62 crore as it completes 30 days of commercial operations along the stretch between

Aluva

and Palarivattom on Tuesday. According to Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (

KMRL

) there was an average ridership of 47,646 per day.

It was on June 17 that prime minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first reach of the metro, and it was thrown open for commercial operations on June 19.

The revenue and ridership figures reflect the euphoria and ecstasy around the newly launched public transport system in the city. During the month the ridership varied from 20,000 to 98000. KMRL said the traffic was more on holidays, but they could maintain an average ridership around 20.000 even during the weekdays.

KMRL managing director Elias George said, “Kochi is one of the first newly opened metros in the country to record such huge traffic. For a long time those like Chennai Metro could only record an average ridership of 12,000 per day. Most of our commuters are tourists. If we need regular commuters