Kolkata Metro Railway revises fare after 6 years

Kolkata: Kolkata Metro Railway has decided to revise its fare from the first week of December after six years.

The current fare structure of the Kolkata Metro is Rs 5 up to 5 km, Rs 10 for 5-10 km, Rs 15 for 10-20 km, Rs 20 for 20-25 km, and Rs 25 for journeys beyond 25 km.

"Metro Railway has revised its fare after six years. The new fare will come into effect from December 5, 2019," said Kolkata Metro Railway chief public relations officer Indrani Banerjee.

The revised fare structure of the Kolkata Metro is Rs 5 up to 2 km, Rs 10 for 2-5 km, Rs 15 for 5-10 km, Rs 20 for 10-20 km, and Rs 25 for journeys beyond 20 km.

"Other conditions related to smart cards, concessions etc as notified from time to time shall remain unchanged. It is to be noted that the last fare revision was made on November 7, 2013," Banerjee said.

It might be mentioned that the Kolkata Metro Railway had issued a form to commuters seeking opinion regarding the fare hike after deciding the fare of East-West Metro in February 2019.

Commuters now get a 10 per cent bonus on every smartcard recharge. This apart, in a bid to generate cash flow, the Metro authorities have raised the limit for recharging smartcard up to Rs 5,000.

Kolkata Metro Railway's passenger count and earnings have increased significantly in the first six months of this financial year, compared to the corresponding period in 2017-18.

"During the period from April 1, 2019 to September 30, 2019, Metro Railway's passenger count went up to 10.77 crores in comparison to 10. 65 crores in the same period of the previous year," said Banerjee.

Metro Railway's earnings have also increased during this period. Earnings of the city Metro, which has the lowest fare structure among all Metro railways in the country, have also gone up in these six months from Rs 101.66 crores last year to Rs 102.61 crores this year, which is an increase of Rs 0.95 crore, Banerjee added.

Kolkata Metro Railway has also created history by carrying 9.28 lakh commuters on Panchami this year, the highest since its inception in 1984.

Kolkata Metro Railway is the sixth longest operational Metro network in India after the Delhi Metro, Hyderabad Metro, Chennai Metro, Namma Metro and Noida Metro. At present, the network consists of one operational line of 27.22 km from Noapara to Kavi Subhash.