Mumbai Metro Line-3 Becomes Completely Operational; Gets One Lakh Ridership By Thursday Evening

Mumbai's Metro Line 3, fully functional after the final phase was inaugurated a day earlier by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had a heavily patronised Thursday with ridership touching more than one lakh by 07:00 p.m., officials said.

The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation spokesperson said 1,18,286 passengers took the 33.5 km line between Cuffe Parade in south Mumbai and Aarey JVLR in the north-west part of the metropolis till 07:00 p.m.

"The line started operations for the day at 05:55am. The ridership was 97,846 till 06:00 p.m., which used to remain around 75,000 before," he said.

On the first day of full length operations, metro stations like CSMT, Vidhan Bhavan and a few others witnessed steady flow of passengers, with CSMT metro station seeing long queues during the morning and evening rush hours.

"Generally I take the bus to reach home after getting down at CSMT railway station. However, most of the times buses are late and further get stuck in traffic jams. Today, I took the metro train and peacefully reached Kalbadevi within three minutes and for the same amount," said a Kalbadevi resident.

"After the underground metro line was fully opened for traffic, the crowd on Mumbai Metro Line 3 has swelled when compared to the last several months," another user said.

At stations like Cuffe Parade, several people from nearby areas visited to take in the experience, with children also seen playing at the entrances, while others took joyrides on the route.

Many netizens sounded upbeat about the new line.

"The heartbeat of Mumbai just got faster and greener. A toast to efficient travel!," wrote X handle Sushant Wagh.

However, some passengers also complained about non-functional ticket vending machines, escalators and long queues for buying tickets.

"I spent almost 10 minutes in the queue for a less than five minute journey between Cuffe Parade and Churchgate as there was a long queue at the station and ticketing machines were non-function around 03:00 p.m.," a passenger said.

Some passengers also spoke about low mobile phone range inside the metro stations.

In absence of a mobile network they claimed they were forced either to stand in queue for tickets or come out of the stations for booking the tickets online.

PM Modi on Wednesday inaugurated the final phase of the Mumbai Metro Line-3 between Acharya Atre Chowk and Cuffe Parade, marking a major milestone in the city's infrastructure development. Till Wednesday, the Aqua Line operation was limited between Acharya Atre Chowk and Aarey JVLR.

"Phase 2B of the Mumbai Metro Line-3 is a significant enhancement to Mumbai's infrastructure. Metro connectivity is essential for a city's growth. This project will have a positive impact on the lives of the people of Mumbai," PM Modi said on X on Wednesday.