The monthly ridership for Mumbai Metro 2A (Dahisar- D N Nagar) line has been dropping this year compared to 2023, says the data provided by Maha Mumbai Metro Operations Ltd (MMMOL). The monthly ridership in April 2023 was 29,57,149 and in December 2023 had peaked to 39,13,633. But the ridership started dropping from January this year and in March 2024 the monthly ridership was 37,78,556.
Under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, activist Zoru Bhathena asked MMMOL the data on ‘expected ridership and actual monthly ridership’. The MMMOL in its reply mentioned that information on ‘expected ridership is not available’ and provided the actual monthly ridership for Metro 2A line from April 2023 to March 2024. As per the data, average monthly ridership on the Dahisar – D N Nagar (Andheri West) is 35,88,870.
Bhathena said, “Although the authority has not provided the expected number of monthly commuters, it is clearly mentioned in its Detailed Project Report (DPR) that ridership for first year of Metro 2A was planned at 2.7 lakh per day. It leads to 81 lakh monthly. However, the average monthly ridership now is around 36 lakh only, which is as much as 55 percent less.”
“Not only the monthly ridership has dropped this year, but overall, the usage is only 45 percent of planned for Dahisar- D N Nagar line. This route is very crucial for office goers and it is strange why the usage is not as expected,” Bhathena said.
The 18.6 km long Metro 2A connecting Dahisar to D N Nagar in Andheri was inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi in January 2023, along with 16.5 long Metro 7 connecting Andheri to Dahisar.
