‘Had been waiting for this line for a long time,' say commuters

Offically opened to the public at 11 am on Monday the new underground metro saw enthusiastic passengers taking their inaugural rides Many expressed their excitement about the line highlighting its potential to save them both time and moneyAmong the first passengers to buy a ticket at Aarey metro station was Soumya Gupta who said ldquoI arrived at 930 am and waited outside the ticket window because I wanted to be one of the first to purchase a ticket Itrsquos a historic daymdashour wait is finally over and Mumbairsquos first underground metro line is now open to the publicrdquoIIT student Avyukth Radhakrishnan said ldquoMetro line 3 will greatly shorten travel times for Mumbaikars travelling between SEEPZ and BKC Once the entire line is operational we anticipate an increase in ridership as it links the western suburbs with South MumbairdquoCommuters are all smiles on their way to BKC PicsNimesh DavePowai resident Amol Sable arrived with his oneyearold daughter Aryadhya eager to experience the underground metro train he had been anticipating for a long time In an interview with midday Sable expressed his happiness and urged the authorities to expedite the completion of the remaining phases of the underground metroCommuter Pravin PVS said ldquoMetro line 3 will definitely be a game changer for daily commuters travelling from Powai and SEEPZ to BKC as road travel can take a lot of time This underground metro line will provide a quick and convenient optionrdquoOn Monday a midday correspondent and photographer boarded the first train departing from Aarey Throughout the journey we found excellent network connectivity both in the underground stations and while the train was moving with just a couple of carriers experiencing outagesThe stations and escalators at Aarey station were functioning smoothly Upon arriving at BKC we observed that some commuters encountered difficulties exiting due to the stations size and multiple entry and exit points However one commuter noted that these challenges would likely be resolved as people become more accustomed to the travel process Additionally maps and information about entry and exit points were clearly displayedKaushal Dubey a regular public transport user shared his experience ldquoOn Monday at 1030 am I attempted to book a ticket for Metro 3 from Aarey to BKC using the mobile app but I encountered a technical issue that prevented me from completing the transaction I ended up waiting five to six minutes to finally book the ticket There should be a single mobile app for booking tickets across all metro lines in MumbairdquoEvening peak hoursThe crowds at Aqua Line started gathering after 6 pm from BKC with commuters getting in at all stations and at Marol Naka most of the passengers had exited the station to join Line 1There were significant crowds at Marol station interchange as expected in the evening Tomorrow will be a challenging day as operations go fullfledged an official saidThe train gives us access to Line 1 fastest from BKC We had been waiting for a long time for this train officegoer Ravinder Pakhija who works at BKC saidIt is sad that a monthly pass is not available Had come to buy one today but I was told it would be available later Srigun Patel another commuter saidMetro Blue Line 1 officials said they had been working on creating additional facilities within the given limitations at Techno Marol Naka station to cater to the increased load