A survey conducted by the Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru, in 2015 and the results of which were released the other day, has concluded that the Kochi Metro could break even in about eight years through the revenue earned from ticket sales.
This was based on the expected passenger patronage (envisaged as per the revised Detailed Project Report of 2011) of 3.82 lakh people per day in the first year of operation. This is expected to rise to 4.40 lakh in the second year and proportionately thereon.
The total expenditure for the 25-km-long Aluva-Pettah metro corridor has been pegged at Rs. 5,182 crore, including cost of land acquisition and feeder buses.
Revenue from non-ticketing sources such as advertisements is expected to be used for the operation and maintenance of the metro.
Thursday’s KMRL board meeting had also approved the Kochi Metro’s policies on advertisement, station-naming-rights and station-interconnection, apart from related strategies.
KMRL sources said that advertisements had been planned in metro stations, pillars along the 25-km viaduct, website and interior/exterior of trains.
Stations at Aluva, Kalamassery, Edappally, Kaloor and MG Road would be named after firms that remit the requisite fee. The name of each firm will be suffixed to the place name. Their name will also be mentioned in metro’s website. They will, in addition, get advertisement and display space in the stations. The KMRL would have the right to refuse a brand if its name did not easily gel with the place name.
Similarly, commercial establishments or malls in the immediate vicinity of a metro station could opt for a link with the station by paying a fee in accordance with the interconnection plan.
With the board approval, the decks have been cleared for inviting tenders for these non-ticketing revenue-generating mode, they said.
