Kochi Metro recorded a marginal rise in ridership in the financial year 2025-26, carrying 1.375 mn more passengers than in the previous year. The service carried 36.8 million (mn) passengers in 2025-26 compared with 35.5 mn in 2024-25, representing a year-on-year increase of 3.9 per cent. The growth was described as distributed rather than concentrated in isolated spikes. A month-wise analysis shows steady gains across quarters. In the first quarter, ridership increased from 8.57 mn to 8.84 mn, while the second quarter rose from 9.13 mn to 9.51 mn. These trends indicated broad-based improvement rather than a single surge. The October to December period remained the strongest in both years, with quarterly totals moving from 9.4 mn to 9.7 mn and December alone recording over 3.2 mn passengers in both years. The sustained peak was linked to arts and cultural events including the Kochi Muziris Biennale and coinciding school holidays, which attracted domestic and foreign visitors. Tourism and local festivities were cited as significant factors. In the final quarter, from January to March, ridership rose from 8.35 mn to 8.77 mn, with March showing a clearer increase to over 2.8 mn passengers compared with 2.57 mn in the prior year. February figures were broadly in line with the previous year at about 2.68 mn versus 2.62 mn. Operational changes implemented during the year were credited with the gains. The metro extended services until 11 pm from 15 February, and the feeder bus service introduced in January 2025 completed its first full year, carrying more than 1.4 mn passengers across six routes. Fare incentives such as the ten to fifteen per cent discount on mobile QR tickets introduced on 26 January also encouraged commuting by metro. Overall the data show incremental monthly increases and officials expect further gains as new corridors are developed.