CMRL plans to introduce promotional tickets to select passengers

CHENNAI: With the motive to increase the daily average ridership, the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) is planning to introduce promotional tickets to potential passengers.

For the same, CMRL officials are currently preparing Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and will soon be releasing details on the same.

Speaking to DT Next, a CMRL higher official said, "After studying the potential passengers and on a case by case basis, we will be rolling out the promotional tickets for riders. As we are almost ready with SOP, we will soon be introducing the initiative."

"Through this initiative, we are anticipating further increase in daily average ridership to 2.50 lakh and over,” the official added.

According to officials, the promotional tickets are likely to be given either free or on discount. And, these tickets will be non-transferable, where a passenger will be restricted to share the ticket with another.

And, the promotional tickets will be given for a period of 15 days to one month, as per the market study, cost-effectiveness and other factors.

Subsequently, target passengers for these tickets will be studied by the CMRL marketing team. "Our team will thoroughly assess and target the potential passengers like college students, IT professionals and residents located near metro stations for increasing ridership, "the official noted.

CMRL has been witnessing a steady increase in ridership this year. In April, the ridership was at 66.85 lakh passengers.

Meanwhile, to increase ridership, CMRL has been adopting various strategies like strengthening last mile connectivity, sufficient parking and collaborations with other institutions like Indian Premier League (IPL) and screening of IPL matches.