Gujarat Metro earns ₹4.42 lakh in a year, only 130 passengers uses metro services

Ahmedabad, India (Metro Rail Today): The Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation Limited (GMRC) has recorded more than six times fewer earnings during the financial year 2020-21. The annual report tabled in the Gujarat Assembly on March 3 showed that only Rs 4.42 lakh was earned as passenger fare by GMRC during the financial year 2020-21.

This revenue earned from passenger movements during 2020-21 is 6.5 times less compared to the earnings from the first year of operations of the Ahmedabad Metro which is plying on only a 6.5 km section (Apparel Park - Vastral Gam) of the total 21.16 km long East-West  Corridor.

The annual report points out that the metro operations remained suspended between April-August 2020 due to the Covid-19 lockdown and the restrictions that followed later. In 2021-22, only 130 persons traveled daily on the Ahmedabad Metro which is much lower than the 800-900 passengers who rode daily during 2019-20.

"The Phase-1 of Ahmedabad metro is 83 percent complete, the annual report states that of the total 32 sets of trains that were imported from South Korea, seven trains are in operation in the 6.5-kilometer route between Vastral Gam and Apparel Park. GMRC has already begun work on constructing the Phase-II of Ahmedabad metro that will connect Ahmedabad with Gandhinagar," said a GMRC official.

The negative changes in ridership caused passenger fare collections to dip from Rs 28.7 lakh in 2019-20 to 4.42 lakh in 2021. Currently, the daily ridership is close to 1000 passengers and it is expected to increase phenomenally once the rest of the Phase-1 network gets commissioned by August 2022.

The 21.16 km long Corridor 1 (East-West) will connect Thaltej Gam to Vastral Gam with 18 stations. Corridor 2 (North - South) will span 18.87 km and will connect Motera to Gyaspur Depot with 16 stations. Both corridors are being constructed under Phase 1 of Ahmedabad Metro Rail Project. Construction work on 28.254 km corridors of Phase 2 has also began.

For more details, please explore the Ahmedabad Metro page of Metro Rail Today.