Starting Thursday, children below 15 and women can enter a Metro station without an e-pass from 11am to 5pm, officials said.

An e-pass was so far mandatory for any passenger under 60 to enter a Metro station. Senior citizens can enter a station any time without an e-pass.

“Children should carry an age-proof ID, like their school identity card,” said a Metro official.

A smart card will remain mandatory for a train ride for all passengers.

“We were having quite a few vacant slots during the non-peak hours. We wanted to give preference to women and children, like we did with senior citizens,” the official said.

Metro’s passenger count was 1,00,589 on Wednesday. The count breached the 1,00,000 mark for the first time since the resumption of services on September 14 and a week into the resumption of suburban railway services on November 11. On Thursday, the count was 94,041.

The Metro and suburban railway services had remained suspended since March to slow down the spread of the coronavirus.

In the run-up to the resumption of suburban trains, Metro had increased the number of trains from Monday to Saturday from 152 to 190.