Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, The steep Delhi Metro fare hike will “kill” Delhi Metro. RTI revealed that the metro lost over three lakh commuters a day due to the fare increase.
Fares of Delhi Metro are likely to go up in January, 2019 again. It is going by the recommendations of a Centre-appointed committee. Which is authorise to fix the mass rapid transit’s commuting tariff.
According to the RTI queryk, the metro’s daily average ridership came down to 24.2 lakh in October from 27.4 lakh in September. It is a fall of around 11 per cent.
The two-phase fare hike effect in May and October. It recommend by the same committee, chaired by Justice (Retd.) M L Mehta. which also had the Delhi chief secretary and the additional secretary of the Ministry of Urban Development on board.
The committee said in the report, All the fares should be rounded off to the next rupee. This automatic fare revision will come in effect from 1st January, 2019. And every year thereafter till the recommendations of the next FFC come into effect”.
During the talk over the recent hike with the Arvind Kejriwal government. Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri had claim that the Centre was in no position to tamper with the recommendations of the FFC.
On November 24, DMRC’s response to an RTI application filed by a PTI correspondent found that metro lost three lakh commuters per day following the October 10 hike.Subsequently, fares were hiked by up to 100 per cent across multiple distance slabs.
Puri maintained that the fall in ridership could not be solely attributed to fare hike and factors such as an extra Sunday, Diwali and Chhath Puja may also have been responsible and also defended the hike saying it was essential for DMRC(Delhi Metro Rail Corporation)’s “efficiency”.
The current fare structure is: Rs 10 up to 2 km, Rs 20 for 2 to 5 km, Rs 30 for 5 to 12 km, Rs 40 for 12 to 21 km, Rs 50 for 21 to 32 km and Rs 60 for journeys beyond 32 km.
Metro Fare Revision Highlights :-
1)This is fourth time since the beginning of its operations in 2002 that Delhi Metro is revising its fares. When Delhi Metro started operations on 25th December 2002, the minimum fare was Rs. 4 and maximum was Rs. 8.
2)The 1st fare fixation committee constitute in December 2003 and revise fares adopte w.e.f March 31, 2004 (after a gap of one year and three months) with minimum fare of Rs. 6 and maximum Rs. 15.
3)The fares recommend by the 2nd fare fixation committee effective form 31st December 2005 (after a gap of one year and nine months) with minimum fare of Rs. 6 and maximum Rs. 22.
4)The 3rd fare fixation committee constitute in June 2009 and fares effective from November 13, 2009 after a gap of 4 years (approx) with minimum fare of Rs. 8 and maximum Rs. 30.