2.53 crore passengers travelled in Metro trains in 2021, says CMRL

As many as 2.53 crore passengers travelled in the Chennai Metro trains in 2021 despite the suspension of services between May and June due to the Covid-imposed lockdown and enforcement of social distancing norms throughout the year. More than 9.80 crore passengers have used the services since the first line began operations in June 2015.

“Come rain or shine, CMRL has always endeavoured to provide a safe, efficient and reliable travel partner for its loyal commuters. This can very well be seen in the monumental increase in the patronage in 2021 wherein 2.53 crore passengers travelled in the Metro,” CMRL stated in a statement.

In 2021, the Chennai Metro’s footfall has doubled when compared to 1.18 crore passengers, who travelled in 2020. However, the last year’s footfall was 22 per cent less than in 2019 when it recorded an all-time high of 3.28 crore passengers travelling in the Metro. The fall in patronage was mainly due to the suspension of services between March 2020 - September 2020 and from May 2021 – June 2021 due to the lockdown.

A senior CMRL official said that the metro was finally able to surpass pre-pandemic patronage in December last year with an average of 1.24 lakh passengers using the train services daily as against 1.16 lakh in February 2020. “Again the Covid third wave has come in the way, we don’t know what impact it will create and how long to recover from it,” the official said.