Saw this news about Ahmedabad Metro during the IPL 2026 final and numbers are just crazy . It’s one thing to have a big event,but another thing for public transport to handle it so well.
On May 31,the day of the final at Narendra Modi Stadium,passenger journeys on metro shot up to an amazing 1,95,868 . To put that in perspective,that’s 66% increase from the 1,17,939 journeys just a week before.
And the Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) really stepped up. Their original plan was to run services until 12:30 a.m. for the match . But demand was so overwhelming,they had to keep operations going until 2:19 a.m. .
Imagine that,the last train from Motera Metro Station left at 2:19 a.m.,and the final one from Old High Court Metro Station left at 2:45 a.m. . That's some serious late-night service to make sure cricket fans got home safe.
And honestly,this is what you want to see from a city's infrastructure.
The huge travel demand was obviously because Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the final against Gujarat Titans . To manage this massive crowd,they ran 62 additional services after match only . Not small thing ah. Phase 1 of the metro itself saw 1,77,106 journeys.
Few things that really stood out:
- Passenger journeys soared to 1,95,868 on IPL final day .
- Metro services were extended till 2:19 a.m. to clear the huge rush.
- 62 extra train services were operated just for the post-match crowd.
Later,GMRC even sent out press release thanking commuters for their discipline and also praised the Ahmedabad Police and Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation for their support . They gave a quote saying,“We encourage citizens to utilize the metro service,which is a safe, reliable,and environmentally friendly mode of transport,”
But this isn't just about one cricket match . It’s about how essential a good metro system is for a growing city like Ahmedabad. Without it,the traffic would have been a complete nightmare.
It really shows how public transport can be backbone during massive events. But it also makes you think… now that they’ve done this so well,will people expect this level of service for every single event going forward…
