Delhi metro fares hiked by 66%,new minimum fare expected to be Rs 10
The DMRC board today approved the Fare Fixation Committee's recommendation to hike ticket prices. The new fares will range between Rs 10 and Rs 50.
8 May 2017 10:46 AM GMT
A 66 per cent hike in the Delhi metro fares was approved by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Monday. While currently the minimum and maximum fares are at Rs 8 and Rs 30 respectively, the 66 per cent hike will make them both Rs 10 and Rs 50, respectively. The fare will most likely be introduced from Wednesday.
To simplify the fare structure, the panel recommended ticket pricing to be in Rs 10, Rs 15, Rs 20, Rs 30, Rs 40 and Rs 50 format. "The fare revision has been long overdue and we have been demanding it. There are increasing operational costs like salaries and DA of employees," a DMRC official had said when the hike was first proposed in September 2016.
"In 2002, when the Metro began operations, the operating ratio was 0.42, which means we saved almost 60 per cent of the revenue. Today, the operating ratio is 0.67, which leaves us with 33 per cent in savings. Of those savings, we have to pay off installments of the Rs 30,000 crore loan taken from Jica, the Japanese company which financed the project," the official had said.
The official had also said that the Metro's operating ratio — the ratio of cost of operation to savings and profit — had fallen to 50 per cent of what it was in 2002.
Earlier this year, the NITI Aayog had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to increase ticket prices on the Delhi Metro.
According to a January report in the Hindustan Times, the NITI Aayog's vice-chairman, Arvind Panagariya, wrote to the Prime Minister's Office saying that "at the current level, the fares are inadequate for the provision of high quality services and maintenance".
The FCC which recommended the fare hike is headed by retired Delhi High Court judge, ML Mehta and was formed by the Centre in June last year.
The board of the DMRC, which has repeatedly requested the government to allow it hike fares, includes the secretary of the Ministry of Urban Development, Rajiv Gauba, and the chief secretary of the government of NCT of Delhi, MM Kutty, among others.
Delhi Metro fares were last revised in 2009, when the minimum fare was increased from Rs 6 to Rs 8 and the maximum fare from Rs 22 to Rs 30.
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