Exam season and summer vacation have together created a dent in Chennai Metro Rail system’s ridership in the last two months. During the months of April and May, Chennai Metro Rail saw a daily average of three lakh and 2.90 lakh people using the trains respectively.

The Metro Rail saw an average ridership of 3.28 lakh passengers every day in the month of March.

According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), nearly 30% of the people who use the system comprise school and college students. “Hence, for these two months, April and May, when the final examinations are held and the institutions break for vacation, we see a reduction in the ridership. After June 15, the number of people travelling will significantly increase,” an official said.

Officials said, this is a pattern they see every year when the trains carry lesser number of commuters during exam and holiday season. For instance, in April and May 2025, CMRL recorded an average daily ridership of 2.91 lakh and 2.87 lakh passengers as against 2.97 lakh in March 2025. In June, the ridership was 3.07 lakh.

CMRL has a long way to go to achieve its projected ridership of 7.75 lakh travellers a day. “Unless we are able to create a robust last-mile connectivity system wherein feeder vehicles such as buses and share auto-rickshaws get closer to the doorstep of commuters, it will be hard to draw a significant number of new commuters. We also expect a rise in the ridership when the first stretch of the phase II project from Poonamallee to Vadapalani is launched,” he added.

A decade has passed since the commencement of Chennai Metro Rail services, yet, a well-developed last mile connectivity system has not become a reality.