By IANS
New Delhi : Delhi Metro, the commuter-friendly transport system, continues to reduce the demand for vehicles in the capital, said a new report released Monday.
"Since the Metro began operations in December 2002, there has been a progressive increase in the reduction in daily vehicle demand due to the people shifting to Metro for commuting," said the report prepared by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI).
"Till 2006, the Metro has taken the share of 22,697 vehicles and this share is projected to increase approximately to 40,000 for all other modes of travel such as cars, buses, two wheelers, auto rickshaws by the end of 2007," the report said.
It said this development is likely to result in saving of maintenance cost of road vehicles by Rs.2.18 billion, fuel saving worth Rs.1.72 billion and saving in road maintenance cost of Rs.2.88 billion.
The report further underlined that the Delhi Metro has already saved 280 lives up to 2006, which would have been lost if they had travelled by other modes of transport.
Delhi Metro currently has a network length of 65 km and over 550,000 commuters avail its facilities every day.