By IANS,
New Delhi : A week after bus fares went up sharply in the Indian capital, the Delhi Metro Wednesday announced a 36 percent increase in fares fuelling sharp reactions from commuters.
This is the third time the hugely popular Delhi Metro, now used by nearly 900,000 people, has upped fares since it started operation in 2002. The revised fares will come into force Friday.
The minimum fare (for up to 2 km) has gone up from Rs.6 to Rs.8 while the maximum fare has been increased from Rs.22 (over 39 km) to Rs.30 (over 44 km). The remaining fare slabs will also rise, Delhi Metro officials said.
The 10 percent discount on smart card will, however, continue.
“The suggestions of third fare fixation committee will come in force by Nov 13,” Delhi Metro Rail Corp’s Director (Finance) R.N. Joshi told reporters here.
The move comes days after the Delhi government increased bus fares last week, forcing many to switch over to Delhi Metro. That hike too came under widespread criticism.
Despite the fare hike, the DMRC has projected that an additional 53,000 people would start using its services from Friday when the service is extended to Noida in Uttar Pradesh, on Delhi’s outskirts.
Delhi Metro does not think the hiked prices would hit ridership.
“The revised fare would not be a burden on the commuters keeping in mind the comfort level and quality of service,” Joshi said.
Delhi Metro said the fares were revised because the expansion of the network from 65 km to 165 km had boosted operation costs.
The DMRC has got huge debt repayment commitments. Its interest and loan repayment shall be in the range of Rs.500 crore (Rs.5 billion) to Rs.600 crore (Rs.6 billion) per year after the opening of Phase-II sections, he said.
The DMRC and Delhi Transport Corp (DTC) are also planning common tickets for their services.
Wednesday’s Metro fare hike was denounced by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra.
“It is another blow after the increase in bus fares and electricity rates. While increasing the fare of DTC, the Delhi government had given the plea that it was to compensate the losses.
“People would like to know when Metro is running in profit, why is Delhi government imposing this extra burden on Delhiites?”
He asked Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to immediately roll back the fare hike.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Metro has placed an order for 400 new coaches and 130 new trains to address problems of increasing footfall.
“We know that the Kashmere Gate section is facing lots of problems… We are going to add two more coaches to the current four-coach trains. We are looking towards a public-private partnership on the new Gurgaon stretch,” said Joshi.