THREE MONTHS after the final phase of the underground Metro 3, or Aqua Line, between Worli and Cuffe Parade opened, ridership on the 33.5-km line that connects Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ has more than doubled. Passenger numbers rose from 19.7 lakh in September before the final phase was opened to 38.63 lakh in October post opening, before climbing further to 44.58 lakh in November and 46.56 lakh in December.
Before the full SEEPZ–BKC–Colaba corridor became operational on October 9, the line recorded an average week-day ridership of 75,052. This figure jumped to 1.23 lakh in October, increased to 1.32 lakh in November, and reached 1.48 lakh in December. The highest single-day ridership was recorded on October 16 when 1.82 lakh passengers used the line.
Services on Metro 3 were increased from January 5, with weekday trips rising from 265 to 292. The increase has reduced train frequency during peak hours from over six minutes to nearly three minutes. On Saturdays, trips have gone up from 209 to 236, while Sundays continue to operate 198 services.
Much of the ridership has been concentrated at stations that offer interchanges with suburban railways and other Metro lines. Marol Naka, which connects with Metro Line 1 between Andheri and Ghatkopar and also serves as a key interchange for commuters travelling from the Dahisar East–Andheri East Metro Line 7 via Line 1, recorded the highest footfall, with 16.45 lakh entries and exits between October and December. CSMT station followed, with 10.28 lakh commuters.
Highlighting the popularity of the commercial hub, the BKC station recorded the third-highest footfall during this period, with 7.3 lakh commuters. This was followed by the Siddhivinayak metro station in Prabhadevi and the Santacruz metro station, both of which saw nearly 6.66 lakh users.
“The plan for the next few months is to encourage ridership, particularly by improving last mile connectivity at the stations,” said a spokesperson from the MMRCL, which is in charge of the underground lines. “This is being done through our partnership with Cityflo buses at five stations, BKC, Worli, Aarey JVLR, and CSMT beginning at Rs 9. In peak times, the frequency of the buses is every 10 minutes, and we are scaling up as per demand.”
