Chennai Metro rail's daily patronage goes up by 67 per cent in July

An official release from the CMRL said a total of 18.46 lakh passengers travelled in the Metro trains in July with a daily average of 59,563 passengers. On July 26, the metro saw a maximum of 74,380 passengers using the train services to commute. 

“A total of 3.55 lakh passengers travelled in the trains from June 21 to 30,” it said after the train services resumed on June 21 post lockdown imposed by the state government owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. In June, the average number of passengers travelled per day was about 35,000. 

The Metro has been operating services with 50 per cent capacity as per the state government's instructions. All passengers and staff are screened at the entrance of the stations through thermal scanning. “Only asymptomatic passengers are allowed to enter the metro stations. Crowd control and platform management staff have been deployed in stations, and suitable marking has been indicated on alternate seats in trains and platforms to ensure social distancing. To ensure strict adherence to Covid-19 safety norms, a penalty of Rs 200 is being imposed for not properly wearing face masks in the metro trains and stations. “So far a total of 102 passengers have been levied penalty since June 21 for non-adherence and a sum of Rs 20,400 has been collected as a penalty,” the release said. 

In July, a total of 30,160 passengers have utilised the QR code ticketing system, while 10,06,165 passengers have used the travel card ticketing system. CMRL offers a 20 per cent discount on QR code ticketing and Metro Train Travel Card.