Two months after a hike in Delhi Metro fares was rolled out, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday once again asked the Centre to roll-back the increase, citing falling ridership figures.
The Aam Aadmi Party government had come out against the hike, though a representative of the Delhi government was part of the Fare Fixation Committee that recommended the increase in fares. Mr. Kejriwal and Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs (independent charge) Hardeep Singh Puri had exchanged several letters in the wake of the October 10 rollout.
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‘In public interest’
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On Wednesday, Mr. Kejriwal wrote to Mr. Puri again, asking the Centre to decrease the fares. Mr. Kejriwal said that there had been a 10.5% decrease in the number of passenger trips in November compared to the same time in 2016.
“Past data as well as the claims made by DMRC indicate that passenger trips grow by about 8.5-9%every year. Even if we assume a conservative growth rate of 8% per annum, it would be evident that not only was this growth of 8% missed, there was also a decline of 10.5% as mentioned above, implying a total loss of 18.5% in passenger trips,” Mr. Kejriwal wrote.
In his letter, the Chief Minister said 15.3 lakh Metro commuters chose to switch to other modes of transport which would be less environment-friendly. He said it would be in public interest to decrease the fares to September levels, which would still be more than the rates in May, when the first phase of the hike was implemented.
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The two-phase hike in fares was announced in May. The fares went up by ₹5 to ₹10 in the second phase. The Delhi government had offered to pay for half the loss caused if the hike was rolled out, which Mr. Kejriwal reiterated on Wednesday.