CHENNAI: The Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) witnessed a passenger ridership of 86.65 lakh passengers for February. In January, the ridership was at 86.99 lakh passengers.

As per CMRL press note, the highest single-day ridership was recorded on February 7 with 3.56 lakh passengers, maintaining the daily average of over 3 lakh.

With CMRL announcing the withdrawal of travel cards from April, 14.80 lakh passengers used the facility in February to exhaust the remaining amount in the card.

And, with the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) being made mandatory, the highest number of 34.22 lakh passengers used the service for the particular month.

As many as 18.34 lakh passengers used the QR facility in February. Meanwhile, to promote digital ticketing, CMRL, from March 1, had stopped issuing paper tickets while purchasing group tickets.

"However, the same product can be purchased through the CMRL mobile App as a QR-group ticket with 20 per cent discounted fare," the note added. "To attract more passengers, CMRL offers a 20 per cent discount on all ticketing (Metro travel card, mobile QR code ticketing - single, return, group tickets and QR trip passes, Whatsapp, Paytm, PhonePe and NCMC Card)," the note added.

Passengers can now also book their tickets through CMRL Whatsapp Ticketing System (+91 83000 86000) and paytm.