Delhi Metro: PRICE HIKE, SPIKE POCKETS

-Mridul Jain (mridul11jain@gmail.com)

Delhi Metro has become the lifeline of the city .

As part of the 4th fare fixation committee, fares have been revised for the 2nd time in an year of the Delhi Metro .

Fares have been increased by Rs.10 on all slabs so what costed earlier Rs.20 which now pinch by Rs.30 .

Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi CM has demanded an audit of the DMRC and this request has been accepted by the Centre.

Centre has argued that the metro would run into losses if fares are not increased and it will share a same fate as the DTC buses. Mounting losses often cripple the ability of such service providers to invest in infrastructure, and even to meet basic safety requirements.Mounting losses in turn often cripple the ability of such service providers to invest in infrastructure, and even to meet basic safety requirements.According to DMRC executive director, corporate communications, Anuj Dayal, “Staff costs, the cost of energy and the cost of repair and maintenance have been increasing manifold,”

Kejriwal has countered this arguement by saying that Delhi Government is ready to share the losses , as it hold a share of 50% in DMRC in collaboration with the central government . Metro connects the heart of the city to its fringes and a daily wage labourer will lose one-fourth of his savings if he’s travelling more than 32 kms.

Scholars have argued for regular indexation to incorporate rising input costs while pricing services such as public transport.Fare hike should be done on a regular basis to effectively shift the burden .Also , there has been a significant delay of 8 months ( from October 2016 to May 2017) in presenting the recommendations of the Fare Revision Committee (FRC) before the board . According to officials, the recommendations made by the Fare Fixation Committee were repeatedly turned down by Metro board of directors, comprising officials from Delhi government, Union Urban Development Ministry, Union Railways Ministry and others.  In fact, increasing the fare twice in one year is in violation of Section 37 of the Metro Act, which clearly states that the fare cannot be increased more than once a year.On the other side, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri, said the Metro Railways (Operations and Maintenance) Act, 2002, does not allow the government to put on hold the proposed hike in Delhi Metro fares.The DMRC during the discussions has asserted that “The FFC’s recommendations are binding on the Metro rail administrations as per provisions of Section 37 of the Metro Act. Neither the Central government nor the state government or even the board of the company has legal power to change the recommendations made by the FFC.”

DMRC data has showed that there are certain pockets where drop in ridership has been registered which means that people have found the hike sharp enough to limit their daily travel or look for travel alternatives.On the other side of spectrum , ridership doubled at the stations nearest to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium during the U-17 FIFA WORLD CUP held in India from 06-28 October 2017 . This has been an hike after seven years and DMRC has pointed out that it will decrease the prices once Phase III gets completed .It has also widened the off-peak time window, and increased the discount rates to 20 per cent from the earlier 10 per cent.

In other countries , Metros have resorted to capping the maximum price and others have frozen the fares for senior citizens and people with disabilities .

A 2013 UN Habitat report shows that as populations of Indian cities rise, the average commute tends to rise correspondingly.This is a result of redirecting growth to the outskirts of cities. While it has helped reduce traffic congestion at the core, this has also resulted in very high dependence on motorized transport. The rich have responded by increasing use of cars and cabs. The non-rich are either travelling in virtual death traps or struggling to save their meagre earnings from growing expenses of public transport.