DOHA: A record number of 68,725 people travelled by Doha Metro trains on Thursday (May 16) to reach Al Wakrah City where Amir Cup Finals were being held at the world-class Al Janoub Stadium.
Qatar Rail said in a tweet that this was the highest number of people riding on Doha Metro’s state-of-the art trains in a single day since the services started.
For the convenience of fans and spectators, Qatar Rail had also extended the service hours of Doha Metro, which, on regular weekdays, operates from 8 am to 11 pm but on Friday the last metro from Al Wakrah left at 3 am.
It was a historic day for Doha Metro as Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani travelled on Doha Metro to the Stadium.
“Doha Metro would like to thank everyone who chose to travel with us to the Amir Cup final. Yesterday (May 16) set a new ridership record of 68,725!,” said Qatar Rail in a tweet after hundreds of sports aficionados arriving at the stadium described their train journey as ‘memorable’ and ‘’wonderful’.
Doha Metro won accolades from residents as more than 86,000 people used the trains in the first two days after the launch of its preview service. On, May 8, at least 37,451 people used the metro, while on next day, 49,096 people were on board, reflecting the huge popularity of Doha Metro.
Fans, of course, also used buses to be part of the historic day with Mowasalat, the major transport services provider in Qatar, transporting over 10,000 spectators and 6,000 students to the 40,000-seat stadium. Match ticket holders were allowed free shuttle bus from Al Wakrah Metro Station to and from the stadium.
Mowasalat also offered exclusive discounts to final match spectators to support the integration of the transfer process with Doha Metro, where it provided a 25 percent flat discount to spectators when booking a trip to Al Wakra Stadium via the Karwa Taxi App.
Mowasalat, which also has a large fleet of taxis and limousines, had deployed 115 buses that transported over 10,000 out of the 38,678 game spectators, and 75 allocated buses transporting over 6,000 students, as well as providing wheelchair accessible buses to transport their users to and from the stadium. In addition, Mowasalat collaborated with Qatar Rail in the operation of Metro Link feeder buses.