Mumbai, Jan 15 (IANS): With the eight-day-long BEST bus strike creating chaos, the Reliance Infrastructure-promoted Mumbai Metro One Pvt. Ltd. (MMOPL) proved to be a saviour for commuters with a huge surge in ridership, an official said here on Tuesday.

On January 11, the Mumbai Metro notched its highest weekday ridership -- 520,000, and maintained as average of 55,000 additional commuters opting for Metro rides to their destinations.

The Metro also witnessed an incremental increase uniformly during the day, with maximum surges during the morning-evening peak hours.

The highest percentage hikes in commuters were shown on Andheri-DN Nagar and Andheri-Airport Road stations (31 per cent), followed by Andheri-Versova (29) and Andheri-Marol Naka (23), with maximum footfalls at Saki Naka (23.7 per cent), Marol Naka (19.5), Andheri (17.8) and Ghatkopar (9.3).

To cater to the extra rush of commuters diverted from the BEST, the Metro also introduced 12 additional trains with 100 per cent availability and 99.9 per cent punctuality, increased number of ticketing counters at important stations, additional manpower including senior managers deployed for crowd management at various points, and strengthening overall security.

The current average weekday ridership is 4.5 lakh per day. Within four years of its operations, Mumbai Metro achieved 400 million passenger mark on its 1,423rd day, in April 2018.

"We are happy to service additional commuters who have chosen Mumbai Metro during the strike period. Our systems are equipped to handle the increased capacity. Passenger safety and convenience remain to be of paramount importance to us," said a MMOPL spokesperson.