Over 80 lakh passengers travelled in the Hyderabad Metro Rail in the first 100 days after it was launched, according to officials of the L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Limited (LTMRHL).

According to statistics displayed on the trains and in the station, over 10.2 lakh km of operations have been completed and 36,186 train trips were taken till February-end.

The HMRL also said that strict punctuality was maintained, and several thousand people were availing the services on a daily basis.

Last month, the Hyderabad Bicycling Club and Smartbike Mobility Pvt Ltd announced the launch of a public bike sharing system for first and last-mile connectivity at metro stations in Hyderabad.

They have set up bike stations at Miyapur, JNTU, KPHB and Kukatpally metro stations and feeder bike stations at Miyapur Junction, JNTU Main Gate and Cyber Towers.

In a statement, the company said that it currently has 75 smartbikes in the city and plans to add another 225 bikes in a few weeks.

Over one lakh people took the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) on November 29 last year alone, after the project began commercial operations.

The first day of the HMR's launch saw long queues and packed trains. Stations were packed since the first ride at 6 am and continued to be crowded till late in the evening.

While the crowd size has dwindled as compared to the day it was launched, metro officials maintain that it has remained strong.

The 30 km-long first phase from Nagole to Miyapur was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 28 and has 24 stations, which covers a large part of the city - from the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium at Uppal to Osmania University and the Secunderabad Railway Station, to other areas like Ameerpet and Kukatpally.

This stretch of the largest metro project in the world in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode will be thrown open for commercial operations from Wednesday.

IANS inputs