Jugaad in metro fares: BMRCL uses stations as benchmark to tweak ticket prices

Bengaluru: The tweaks in metro fares that will take effect from Friday have been arrived at by recalibrating fare matrices or combinations, according to BMRCL officials. 

This ingenious workaround — jugaad in desi parlance — was the only way Namma Metro could address some of the concerns of passengers. 

When the new fare structure came into effect on February 9, the average hike before discounts was 51.55 per cent. After discounts, it is 41.7 per cent on weekdays and 39.87 per cent on Sundays and three national holidays. The overall average hike after discounts is 46.39 per cent. 

However, many passengers complained that their fares had increased by 70-100 per cent. 

As passenger discontent grew, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) had to walk a tightrope because the fares were determined by the Fare Fixation Committee (FFC), whose recommendations are binding on it. 

The BMRCL could neither revise the hike nor change the slabs. It was left with only calculating fares based on the number of stations travelled instead of kilometres. 

Accordingly, the distance between two stations is now considered one km, regardless of the actual distance. 

This necessitated making changes to the more than 600 "contentious" station or fare combinations out of the total 4,624 (spanning all fare combinations across the 68 stations). 

After the tweaks, while the minimum hike will remain 33 per cent, the maximum will be capped at 71.43 per cent. The tweaks will help at least 2,91,418 passengers, over 40 per cent of the total. 

"We have recalibrated the fare combinations within the framework of the FCC's report. So passengers who saw their fare double — from Rs 20 to Rs 40, for example — will now pay only Rs 30," BMRCL Managing Director M Maheshwar Rao said. 

To make things easier for passengers, the BMRCL will display fare combinations at each of the city’s 68 metro stations, he added. 

The BMRCL hopes that with the fare hike, it will get an additional Rs 1 crore per day if the current ridership levels sustain. 

A senior BMRCL official stressed that the fares will remain in force even when the metro network reaches 175.55 km with the completion of Phases 2, 2A and 2B. The non-fare revenue will rise to 15 per cent of the fare revenue by then, he added. He also ruled out reducing the minimum top-up for smart cards, bringing back the 5 per cent discount on QR code tickets or giving concessions to students. 

Similarly, passengers who paid the inflated fares on the first four days after the fare hike will not get any refund, another official said. 

"It will open a Pandora's box. How would you find out if someone travelled on the metro and paid the additional fare," he said. 

Bangalore Rural MP CN Manjunath urged the state to direct the BMRCL to submit an appeal to review the fares and the Centre to reconstitute the FFC. 

Yellow Line may open by April-end 

BMRCL Managing Director M Maheshwar Rao said they would try their best to operationalise the 19.15-km Yellow Line by April-end if they received a total of four trains in the next two months. 

He refuted suggestions that metro construction delays were due to the BMRCL’s inefficiency.