New Delhi: Normally, it would take Avinash Garg two hours, three buses and a lot of pushing and pulling in crowded Bluelines to reach his office in Connaught Place. On Saturday, it took him all of 55 minutes in an airconditioned coach to get to his destination from his residence in Inderlok. The new Metro line connecting Mundka to Inderlok and subsequently to other parts of the city that opened for passengers on Saturday suddenly reduced the distance between west and other parts of Delhi, bringing residents like Garg much closer to the city as a whole.

By 6pm on its first day of operations, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) recorded a footfall of 60,000 till 6pm and earned a revenue of Rs 5.8 lakh through ticket sales on this route. Nisha John, a student who had to go all the way to Mayur Vihar from Paschim Vihar to take an exam was thrilled to have the Metro line operational on Saturday. "My father and I were planning to take a bus or an auto to the examination centre but we were so glad to hear that the line became operational. It saved us a lot of headache with autos and buses and was a much shorter trip," she said.

Meena and Tanu Ahuja, mother and daughter who had gone to visit relatives in Shastri Park, could not contain their excitement while sitting in the Metro train. "In the morning we took close to three hours and three buses to get to my aunt’s place. However, the Metro line runs very close to her home and we decided to take that. It has taken us all of one hour to return home in Nangloi. Earlier we used to think twice before visiting her but now I can even travel alone and spend much more time at her house," grinned Tanu.

For Krishna Baldev, a long time resident of Shivaji Park, a drive to Inderlok was usually riddled with traffic jams. When he heard about the Metro, the first thing that the retired mechanical engineer did was lock his car in the garage and use the public transport. "It is going to save me so much on fuel and so much headache to drive through this traffic. The travelling time has also reduced from half an hour to about 7 minutes," he beamed.

Baldev was also thrilled with the new vistas that the ride opened up for him. High up on the elevated corridor, Baldev and several others saw their 'familiar' places in a totally new light. "Till now I had no time nor the ability to know what was hidden on either side of the road. For the first time on Saturday I saw huge open grounds, tops of buildings far away. It changed my entire perspective of the area," he said.