7.3 lakh people take free ride in Chennai metro

CHENNAI: More than 7.3 lakh passengers travelled in metro trains here in four days after the last stretch between Washermenpet and AG-DMS was opened on Sunday.
Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) operated its services for free after the last line was opened at 4pm on February 10. Free ride was available till 10pm on February 13. From Thursday, the operations have been regularised and commuters are charged as per the fare chart.
In a release, CMRL said 7, 34, 379 people travelled in the four days, with an average two lakh passengers commuting every day from Monday.On February 10 when the line was inaugurated, around 69,000 people travelled.
“We were conducting trial runs stabilising our systems to ensure that we operate runs with a frequency seven minutes. So, we operated the services for free for a few days,” a metro rail official said.