Kochi metro ends 2025 with record-breaking ridership across rail, water services
In 2025, over 3.65 crore passengers took the metro rail, while over 23.26 lakh hopped onto the water metro. In the case of metro rail, it marked a 4.2% growth from 2024, and a four-fold rise from 2017, when it completed its first year of operations. Over 17.5 crore passengers have travelled on the metro rail so far.
Ernakulam: In a major accomplishment to the public transport system the state, the Kochi Metro network, the state’s premier metro network comprising the metro rail, water metro and electric feeder buses, closed the year with record-breaking rider-ship numbers.
In 2025, over 3.65 crore passengers took the metro rail, while over 23.26 lakh hopped onto the water metro. In the case of metro rail, it marked a 4.2% growth from 2024, and a four-fold rise from 2017, when it completed its first year of operations. Over 17.5 crore passengers have travelled on the metro rail so far.
In the case of water metro, the ridership in 2025 was 15% higher from the preceding year and a near 10 lakh jump from 2023, when services commenced. Over 57 lakh passengers have travelled on the water metro in the three years.
Meanwhile, the metro rail recorded a total rider-ship of 32.68 lakh passengers in December, a bulk of it in the tail end. On December 30, the rider-ship was 1,24,639 passengers, and on New Year’s Eve, over 1.39 lakh.
On New Year’s Day, over 1.6 lakh passengers used the metro network – 1,39,766 took the rail, while 15,000 rode the water metro.
Like previous years, December remained a rosy period for both services. Water Metro fared better on account of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale.
"The holiday rush of tourists heading to Fort Kochi and Mattancherry greatly contributed to the surge in water metro’s passenger count. Our daily average has seen a significant jump these past weeks, no doubt, due to the Biennale,” said a senior official at the Cochin Metro.