dna special: Mumbai Monorail to run extra hours: 6am to 8pm

Starting mid-April, Mumbaikars will be able to ride India's first monorail for a longer duration. Officials of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) have decided to extend its operational timings.

According to the decision, the extended timings – 6am to 8pm – will come into effect for the 'Mumbai Monorail' from April 15.

Ever since the monorail was opened for public use on February 2, the services are run between 7am and 3pm at a frequency of 15 minutes.

Metropolitan commissioner for the development authority, UPS Madan, said: "We plan to run services for 14 hours a day – from 6am to 8pm. We need to handle both peak timings of the day, morning and evening.

We plan to commence this from April 15 but there is a possibility that this may happen a day before or after April 15. We're looking at mid-April as the time for extension of operation timings."

On an average, presently 64 services are run, which will now increase to an average of 112 services daily.

Training has already begun for operations staff to run services for the extended timings.

Earlier, officials were contemplating on running the service for 12 hours – from 7am to 7pm. Frequency of services will remain unaffected even after timings are extended.

Since the monorail rolled out in the city, ridership has fallen steadily as compared to the initial few weeks of the service being opened.

Due to various examinations scheduled in March and April, footfalls have taken a further hit. However, authorities are hopeful that the turnout will increase from mid-April as it also marks beginning of summer vacations.