Travellers in Qatar have been fast embracing the services of Doha Metro, which they find as more convenient and cost-effective than the other modes of transport in the country, making the service a roaring success story.
Recently, Qatar Rail Company revealed that it has sold more than 1.5 million Doha Metro Travel Cards so far, showing the popularity of the service, which marked the third anniversary of its preview service started with 13 stations on the Red Line. Doha Metro has witnessed continuous growth since its launch as more and more passengers are using the service now.
As the three dedicated metro lines, The Red, Green and Gold have become fully operational in September, the company serves an increasing number of travellers from various areas of the country. The metrolink route network has also grown from 13 routes to 43 routes covering areas around the stations and offering a seamless and hassle-free travel option. Also, metroExpress service currently covers 8 metro stations: DECC, West Bay – QE, Al Qassar, Katara, Legtaifiya, Qatar University, Al Waab QLM and Sport City, in addition to 6 stations on the Orange Line of Lusail Tram, compared to only two metro stations when it was launched in July 2019.
During the Eid Al Fitr holidays, the Doha Metro and Lusail Tram services witnessed a huge rush of passengers as the services combined carried a total of 735,000 people from May 2 to May 5. As a result, the roads in the country recorded a steep reduction in the number of vehicles, logging 150,000 fewer cars on the roads, which resulted in a 200 tonnes reduction in carbon emissions.
During the Eid days, when the Corniche road was closed for traffic to facilitate the three-day Eid festival, the metro service witnessed some 12,000 passengers per hour thronging the Corniche station on May 3, the busiest day since the opening of the service, against its design capacity of 15,000 passengers per hour. There were 24 trains per hour plying the routes, which means every 2.5 minutes there was a train carrying passengers.
Even though the three days saw a flurry of activities with thousands of people using the train service, there were zero safety incidents reported making Doha Metro one of the safest metro systems in the world.
As Qatar is eagerly waiting to host tens of thousands of visitors from across the world for the mega football festival in November and December, Doha Metro is all set to provide a seamless travel experience for the football fans to reach World Cup stadiums with ease, making Qatar’s dream of hosting the world’s first carbon-neutral FIFA World Cup a reality.