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Metro fares may go up next year

By Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

NEW DELHI DEC. 9. The fares of the Delhi Metro are due to be revised by April 2004, when the Rail Corridor will be extended from Tri Nagar to Rithala, the Chairman of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, Madan Lal Khurana, said here today.

Noting that a proposal for fare revision had come up at a Board meeting earlier, Mr Khurana said at that time it was felt that a fare increase would probably have an adverse effect on the number of people availing the Metro.

Though the maximum fare on the Metro is Rs 8 - for the 12.8-km travel between Shahdara and Tri Nagar - and this is Rs 2 less than what an ordinary passenger would have had to pay for travel by bus over the same distance, the officials appear wary of revising the fares for fear of losing commuters.

Mr Khurana said there are two schools of thought. While one believes the fares need to be raised - as the Metro offers a more comfortable, air-conditioned and faster mode of transport - the other believes time is not ripe for pushing up the fares.

However, he said, there is general agreement that a fare hike would be justified once the corridor is extended by another 8.5 km up to Rithala - beyond Rohini - in March 2004. For the purpose, a fare fixation committee - comprising senior officials of DMRC - would be constituted and it would decide the quantum of hike. But the actual hike is not expected to take place before the extension of the corridor.

The idea is to rationalise the entire fare structure when the line reaches a total length of 21.3 km in March 2004.

For an increase in the maximum fare would have to take place any way due to the increase in the distance. And this would also provide an opportunity to DMRC to restructure the fares over the other distances as they have been static since the time the Metro became operational in December 2002. Even after the line was extended by 4.5 km up to Tri Nagar in September, the fares were not increased across the board and only a fare of Rs 8 was introduced for the entire section.

So, officials feels, there is a genuine need to look afresh at the matter for making the Delhi Metro financially more viable.

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