Delhi Metro second largest in southeast Asia in ridership

Delhi Metro is now the second largest metro service in southeast Asia in terms of the passenger load it carries, next only to Hong Kong, its chief said Monday.

The metro service, which started in 2002, has surpassed Singapore and Taipei metros in per day average ridership, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) chief Mangu Singh said.

"In last six months, the average per day ridership of Delhi metro has risen to 2.01 million per day," he said.

The highest ridership was recorded on July 1, at a massive 2.36 million on the 190-km long metro line.

According to figures provided by DMRC, the per day average ridership was 18 lakh in the first six months of 2012. It increased to 19.61 lakh per day in the second half of the year.

Singapore had a per day average ridership of 1.94 million in 2012 on its 148.9 km-long network, while Taipei had an average ridership of 1.71 million per day in May 2013. The length of its network is 115.6 km.

Hong Kong metro, meanwhile, had an average ridership of 4 million per day in 2012 on its 115.6 km-long line.