The opening of Metro lines 2A & 7 lines in the western suburbs proved to be a boon for thousands of commuters to avoid overcrowded suburban locals as well as the choked Link Road and Western Express Highway. Commercial operations were set to start at 4pm on Friday, but the gates were opened for the public around 20 minutes ahead of schedule. The ticket counters saw queues of people who seemed happy to avoid other modes of commute having higher passenger density.
Till 8 PM, a total of 64,065 passengers made use of both the metro lines. Metro 2A had 35,684 passengers, while Metro 7 had 28,381 riders.
The number is from just four hours of operations as compared to around 35,000 daily prior to today's run.
As per the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) , Vishal Bhanushali and Yogesh Solanki were the first to purchase the ticket at Gundavali. Mr Solanki said he was waiting for this metro line to become operational. “I used to travel in overcrowded buses from Malad to my office at Andheri. It would take over an hour to cover the stretch. I am relieved with this metro service opening up,” he said.
“I reached the station on Friday morning but was told services would commence in the evening. I then proceeded to work in my car. On the way back home, however, I asked my driver to drop me off at Gundavali Metro station. I would prefer taking the Metro over road commute,” Mr Bhanushali said.
MMRDA Metropolitan Commissioner SVR Srinivas said, “So far, the Metro services were in the form of Metro lines. Hereon, Mumbai has got a Metro network in a true sense with the two lines of Metro 2A and 7 getting connected with Metro 1.”
Metro 2A is designed to ferry passengers between Dahisar East to Andheri West (D N Nagar), and Metro 7 will carry a passenger load between Dahisar East to Gundavali (Andheri, Western Express Highway).
