JOIN USCOVID-19: Metro ridership drops by 50,000; BMTC says no impact yet
Transport services have been exempted from the week-long shutdown announced by the state government on Friday to fight Covid-19, although metro ridership fell by more than 50,000 in two days.
The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has released the ridership figures for Tuesday and Wednesday (until 7 pm). The number of people who took the metro on Tuesday was 3,63,056 as against the average of last five Tuesdays of 4.3 lakhs. "The drop can be attributed to the work-from-home option given to the employees in the tech sector in Whitefield," an official said.
The number for Thursday was slightly higher at 3.71 lakhs but officials said the announcement of the shutdown of major business establishments will see the numbers further dip on Friday.
At the KSRTC and the BMTC, officials said there would be no changes in the services unless a decline in ridership forced them to cancel some schedules.
A KSRTC official said there was a steady fall in the number of Flybus passengers while reservation bookings had come down over the past week.
A BMTC official said there was no impact of the Covid-19 fears on the intra-city bus ridership but added that the transporter would anyway scale down the services during the weekend. "Sudden cancellation of services will affect lakhs of people who depend on BMTC buses. We will assess the impact of the shutdown on Monday and Tuesday before taking a call (on scaling down the services)," an official said.