The Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited is planning to increase the frequencies of metro trains and start the train services in the morning on Fridays by May due to a rise in the number of commuters.
Currently, metro trains run from 3:00pm to 9:40pm on Fridays and from 7:10am to 10:14pm on the other days of the week.
The company鈥檚 managing director, Mohammad Abdur Rouf, on Tuesday said that currently daily about 3.5 lakh passengers travelled by the metro trains on the Uttara-Motijheel section under the Mass Rapid Transit Line project-6.
On February 3 the highest-ever 3.82 lakh passengers travelled by the metro trains and on January 23 a total of 3.81 lakh passengers travelled by these trains, he said.
At an opinion sharing meeting with reporters, held at the DMTCL headquarters in Dhaka, he made the disclosures.
The DMTCL is the implementing agency of a network of 140.83 kilometre-long six MRT lines, both elevated and underground ones, started in 2016 in Dhaka city by 2030 with the aim of reducing traffic congestion and improving environment in the capital and urban areas around it.
The first metro rail project 鈥� MRT Line-6 鈥� on the Uttara鈥揂gargaon section was inaugurated on December 28, 2022, which was extended to Motijheel on November 4, 2023.
Rouf said that their target was to carry 5.5 lakh passengers by the metro services under the MRT line 6 project.
In 2022 the metro rail services were opened on a trial basis and then the frequencies of the trains were fewer and per day the trains made 10 trips, he said.
Currently, the managing director said, metro trains are making about 200 trips per day and the number of the passengers would increase if the frequencies of the trains would rise.
The DMTCL earned about Tk聽243.91 crore in the 2023-2024 financial year and Tk聽18.28 crore in the FY聽2022-23 by selling tickets, he mentioned.
He also said that after formation about 200 employees left jobs from the company, which was a challenge for them.
The managing director also mentioned that graffiti were accepted on the metro rail pillars but not the posters.
As many are now sticking posters on these walls, they would take action by informing city corporations and police, he added.
The 21.26-kilometre MRT Line-6 on the Uttara鈥揔amalapur route is expected to be completed by 2025.
Currently the progress of the civil works in the Motijheel-Kamalapur section is 46.07 per cent.
