As the bus strike left many office-goers and students stranded, Metros emerged as the saviour of the city - registering a 23 per cent increase in passengers. Compared to other days when 2,99,000 commuters avail of their services, the Metro saw a rush of 3,58,233 passengers on Wednesday.

“Usually I travel by bus, but today I had to travel by the Metro. I took a taxi up to Rabindra Sarovar from where I took the Metro,” said Indrajit Banerjee, an engineer and a resident of New Alipore.

On a normal day during the peak hour, Metro witnesses a rush of 1,50,000 commuters, while on Wednesday it recorded 1,88,000 passengers in the afternoon. While there was a rush at Sovabazar, MG Road, Central, Chandni Chowk, Dumdum in the north, in the south Esplanade, Rabindra Sadan, Rabindra Sarovar, Tollygunge, Kalighat and Jatin Das Park station drew the crowd.

“We have seen a 23 per cent increase in commuters today. Besides Shyambazar and Maidan where the crowd was normal, the other Metro stations were full with the commuters,” said P Dutta, senior public relations officer.

The Metro authorities, however, had no plans of introducing extra trains. They have been already running extra trains at six minutes frequency on weekdays, taking the number of trains from 202 to 214, as part of its earlier initiative.

“We started running special trains from September. Our revenue till the peak afternoon had reached Rs 9,00,000 as compared to a Rs 7,50,000 on a normal day. By the end of the last service it is expected to be much more,” Dutta added.

Even taxis had their share of extra earnings. The Calcutta Taxi Association, which covers 15,000 taxis, saw a 27 per cent increase in revenue, while the Bengal Taxi Association, which covers 18,000 taxis, saw a 30 per cent increase.

“Bus is an essential form of transport. Because of the strike, I was forced to take a cab to the nearest Metro station and then take an auto from there to reach my office. It was expensive,” said C K Banerjee of Serampore.

“Usually a taxi driver does business worth Rs 1,100 to 1,200 per day. But today we have seen a 30 per cent increase because of the bus strike,” said Bimal Guha, president, Bengal Taxi Association.