GURGAON: It has been over a month since Rapid Metro became operational in the city and an increasing number of people seem to be using it. While on Day One the ridership was around 10,000, the current average ridership is 20,000, with authorities claiming that this figure will increase substantially once the under-construction station at Shankar Chowk opens by March next year.

“It has been a month now since we started our commercial services and we are happy to see an encouraging response from the commuters. We are touching a figure of 20,000 commuters per day. With more support from corporates we hope to see it increase further in days to come,” said Rapid Metro CEO Sanjiv Rai.

Regarding the status of the construction work at the Cyber City Station, located right on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway at Shankar Chowk, Rai said, “Our work on the Cyber City Station is in full swing. We will have two walkways to provide connectivity from this station – one towards the Cyber Hub and the other towards the Gateway Tower. We hope to start services at this station from next quarter onwards.”

While at present the Sikanderpur station has maximum number of footfall, once the Cyber City station becomes operational, it too will witness a huge footfall due to its strategic location. Not only will it be used by the office crowd working in the vicinity, but it also provide a faster access for those who want to reach MG Road from the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway.

“A lot of people from Delhi use public transport to reach Shankar Chowk and right now depend on share autos to reach MG Road and Sikanderpur. However, they can use this station to do so once it is open for public use,” said Shailaja Sharma, a commuter.

Others hope that this station would become operational before March. “Ideally, this station should have become operational when the network was inaugurated in November. However, it is encouraging to see hectic construction activity at this site and I hope that it will be operational latest by February,” said Roshan Aggarwal, another commuter.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/Rapid-Metro-commuter-count-touches-20000-a-day/articleshow/27762373.cms