NEW DELHI: Cash registers are ringing for Delhi Metro. Thanks to the new Barakhamba-Dwarka line, Metro’s already operational two lines have seen a sharp increase in ridership and revenue since Dec 31. Till December 30, Metro’s Line 1 Shahdara-Rithala and Line 2 DU-Central Secretariat were raking in Rs2.6 to Rs2.8 million every day. In fact, Dec 30 was a particularly good day and the total earning from the two lines was Rs282,5849.

Just as DMRC opened its new Line 3 on Dec 31, the revenue increased 27.79 per cent overnight from the two lines to Rs361,1026. This is not all. On Jan 2, the revenue from the two lines soared to Rs 415,3361 — a 46.98 per cent increase in just three days. The ridership of the two lines reflects a similar upward trend. On Dec 30, the ridership of the two lines put together was 2,70,525. Addition of the third line to the network next day saw a 9.51 per cent increase in ridership of Lines 1 and 2 to 2,96,248.

This further increased to 2,98,407 on Monday, which is a 10.31% increase. This increase, however, has not kept pace with the revenue increase. DMRC chief public relations officer Anuj Dayal said: “The revenue and ridership have increased on the lines tremendously. This is because now the network provides better connectivity. The ridership increase is less than the revenue increase. This clearly reflects that the people seem to be travelling a longer distance on the system.”—By arrangement with The Times of India