Delhi leads with a sprawling 394 km network, followed by Bengaluru (96 km), Mumbai (80.2 km), and Kolkata (74 km). Many of the newer, smaller networks, such as in Nagpur, Lucknow, and Pune, are also expanding at a brisk pace.

Consequently, the average daily ridership has quadrupled over the past decade, from 28 lakh in 2014 to 1.12 crore in 2025.

The Delhi metro alone carries about 65 lakh passengers each weekday, while Bengaluru handles around 10 lakh and Mumbai about 8.5 lakh daily. Kolkata, one of the oldest metro systems, carries more than 6 lakh passengers daily. In 2024, Kolkata launched India’s first underwater metro tunnel.

Networks such as Pune (carrying 2.18 lakh passengers daily), Chennai (3.19 lakh), and Hyderabad (4.7 lakh) are seeing steady growth in patronage. Smaller metros such as Lucknow, Nagpur, and Jaipur record between 0.5 to 1.5 lakh commuters a day.

Many metro systems also charge customers on a per km basis. For instance, in the Chennai metro, the base fare is ₹2.14 per km and in the Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar metros, it is ₹1.2 per km. For longer distances, most metros have a fare cap; for instance, the Bengaluru metro caps fares at ₹90 for journeys of 30 km or more.