After Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off trains marking the inauguration of completed sections of Pune Metro Tuesday, the ridership on these two routes touched a high of 12,500, up from the daily average of 4,000 for the last few months, according to officials. The extended sections are from Phugewadi to Shivajinagar and Garware College to Ruby Hall Clinic. MahaMetro began full-fledged service on these routes around 5 pm. "In the next six hours, 12,500 commuters travelled on both these routes. On Garware College to Ruby Hall Clinic route, a ridership of 7,500 ridership was registered while on Phugewadi to Shivajinagar, 5,000 commuters used the service," Shravan Hardikar, chairman and managing of MahaMetro told The Indian Express. Metro officials said commuters might not have been fully aware about the service starting on the inaugural day. "We will have to wait for at least a month to see the response. We expect a good response indicated by the three-time jump in barely five hours," he said. As for extending the timing of Metro services, especially during the night, Hardikar said, "We will take a call regarding increasing the timing after seeing the response. If there is an overwhelming in the evening, we will extend the timing. On the inaugural day, we ran the service up to 11 pm; otherwise, the timing is till 10 pm," he said. Regarding concession for college students, Hardikar said, "Metro is offering 30 per cent concession to college students. They have to show their identity cards." PM Modi had inaugurated the first leg of Metro services from Vanaz to Garware College and PCMC to Phugewadi on March 6, 2022.
