De-congesting metro stations has worked, says DMRC

Three months after the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) initiated zone-wise restrictions and penalties on the time spent within its metro network, the number of violators has come down drastically. Cases where commuters overstay beyond their metro travel time have dipped by 30 per cent.

According to DMRC, the unique method which aimed at de-congesting metro stations “has begun to show results.” “We have witnessed a gradual decline in commuters who overstay during their journeys. Our awareness initiatives which also included counselling for violators seem to be working now,” said Anuj Dayal, executive director (corporate communications), DMRC.

Data shared by the corporation with The Hindu revealed that when compared to the average cases of penalty recorded last year in December, the number of violators in the last two months have reduced by almost 30 per cent in the time zones of 65 and 100 minutes. “There are considerably less people who were found overstaying after 180 minutes, which is the maximum permissible time limit in the metro network. Here, the decline is of about 17.39 per cent,” added Mr Dayal.

Officials said that mostly, people overstay for an hour or so and not more than that which means that the maximum fines have been of Rs 10. “There were few cases wherein people have been fined Rs 50 – the maximum penalty fee as per DMRC business rules. The highest violators continue to be those who travel up to nine stations of the metro network or use shorter journeys. Hence, we have the highest violators in the 65-minute zone,” they informed. In December last year, 13,500 people overstayed in this zone which came down to 9,500 in February this year and further to 9,497 in March. Nobody was penalised in January as the time was used to make people aware about the new system.

Over the years, the Delhi metro has become one of the most popular and the cheapest dating spaces in the capital. While young couples overstay in metro network by paying mere Rs 10 as fine, the DMRC was almost fed up of warding them off. Keeping this as well as the gradual increase in the length of the metro network under the upcoming Phase 3 and 4 projects in view, the DMRC in January had revised the maximum permissible time limit for stay within the system for commuters from 170 to 180 minutes.