Hyderabad: Hyderabad Metro Rail which faced huge revenue loss during the first and second waves of the COVID pandemic is witnessing a rise in ridership since the beginning of the current month.
L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Limited (LTMRHL) which was serving 1.6 lakh passengers daily in the month of January has seen a rise in ridership to 1.8 lakh at the beginning of February, New Indian Express reported.
It is also expected that the count of daily passengers is likely to reach 2 lakh by the end of the current month.
An LTMRHL official has been quoted saying that IT employees are yet to start traveling through Hyderabad Metro Rail as many techies are still working from home.
When the pandemic was at its peak, people preferred to travel through their own vehicles to avoid getting infected with the virus. However, now, due to the drop in the COVID case in the state, it is expected that people will return to Hyderabad Metro Rail.
It may be mentioned that before the outbreak of the pandemic, the daily ridership of Hyderabad Metro Rail was over four lakh. In the month of February 2020, it had reached 4.75 lakh.
COVID cases in Telangana
On Sunday, Telangana registered 256 fresh coronavirus cases taking the total number of those affected by the disease to 7,86,678.
However, no COVID-related deaths were reported in the last 24 hours and the toll remained 4,109.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area accounted for the highest number of fresh cases with 107, followed by 19 in Ranga Reddy and 17 in Medchal Malkajgiri districts, a state government bulletin said, providing details as of 5.30 pm, February 20.
