Is Bhopal Metro not attracting enough passengers? Why is Metro Corporation reducing the number of trips?
The Bhopal Metro is not attracting enough passengers. As a result, within just 14 days, the Metro Corporation has not only changed the timings but also reduced the number of trips.
The Bhopal Metro Rail management has announced a new timetable effective from Monday, January 5, 2026. Now, the metro will start from AIIMS station at 12 PM instead of 9 AM, and the last metro from the same station will depart at 7:30 PM.
Saturday marked 14 days since the metro began operations, but the number of passengers is now less than a quarter of what it was initially. On the first day, December 21st, the passenger count reached a high of 6,568, while now only around 1,000 passengers are using the metro. Due to this, the Metro Corporation has made changes to both the timings and the number of trips.
According to metro officials, the timings and number of trips have been changed due to a decrease in passenger numbers. The metro will now start 3 hours later that is from 9 AM instead of 12 noon and will run until 7:55 PM. The last metro from AIIMS to Subhash Nagar will depart at 7:30 PM and will reach Subhash Nagar station in 25 minutes.
Number of trips reduced to 13
The metro will run at intervals of 75 minutes, as before. This means that after one train departs, the next one will only be available after an hour and fifteen minutes. Previously, a total of 17 trips were being made in both directions, which has now been reduced to 13. There will be 7 trips between AIIMS and Subhash Nagar and 6 trips between Subhash Nagar and AIIMS.
A total of 6,568 passengers traveled on the first day on December 21. After that, the number of passengers declined. On December 22, 23, and 28, the number of passengers exceeded 2,000. On December 25, due to the Christmas holiday, 4,264 people traveled on the metro. On December 30, the lowest number of passengers, 967, traveled on the metro. On the first day of the new year, 2,023 passengers traveled, and on the second day, 1,065 passengers traveled. Due to the low number of passengers, both the metro timings and the number of trips were changed.