For Metro travellers, it will soon be possible to switch between Delhi Metro and Airport Express line with a common card. After taking over the Airport Express link, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) management is preparing to launch a common card system for the Airport link.
The DMRC is planning a host of measures to increase ridership on the link, which includes offering huge discounts to the daily commuters. The discounted fares will be available for the smart card users of Delhi Metro. Apart from this, it has also been proposed to connect all stations on the airport line with the feeder bus service in order to expand its connectivity.
The Corporation took over the country's first high speed metro link, the Airport Express line, which connects centre of Delhi with the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport from July 1. Before taking charge of the operations of the high speed corridor, DMRC started the preparations to plug-in the loopholes plaguing the corridor and to make it a viable business model. The Airport Metro link incurs a loss of `4 crore per month due to its low ridership and DMRC’s priority is to improve the ridership on the corridor.
According to top sources, DMRC is mulling on three prime measures to increase ridership on the corridor. The plans include the introduction of a common ticketing system between the Airport line and other Delhi Metro lines; the second is to reduce the fare on the corridor; and to increase the frequency on the corridor. “Some technical hassles have to be worked out before a common ticketing system is introduced. A final decision in this regard will be taken soon,” said a source.
There have been demands to reduce the fares on the line since the day DMRC took over the operations. However, the corridor is already running in loss, which can only be reduced by increasing the ridership on it. “Plans are on anvil to bring the daily commuters between IGI Airport and Dwarka from New Delhi aboard on the Airport Metro. Proposals are being prepared to offer huge discounts to the daily commuters who use smart cards to commute. However, this proposal can be only implemented after receiving a nod from the Urban Development Ministry,” added the source.
In order to increase passengers, apart from providing feeder bus service on other six stations it is also being planned to connect Dwarka Sector 21 with other sectors through feeder bus service on the line.