BENGALURU: The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited on Thursday said that to meet its debt obligatory requirements and surge in operational expenditure due to its network expanding to 77 km from the 42 km in 2017 when the previous hike was effected, a substantial hike was vital. BMRCL had actually requested the Metro Fare Fixation Committee for a hike of 105.15% which comes to a 14.02% increase year-on-year.
The hike is being implemented after 7.5 years. The Committee had finally okayed an average hike of 46% after a discount of 5% on the Travel Card.
Elaborating on the reason why it wanted a hike exceeding 100%, the release said the cost of paying salaries of staff shot up by 42% in the financial year ending March 2024 as compared to March 2017. To meet this requirement alone, an increase of 25.58% was required over the previous fare.
The Maintenance and Administration costs have shot up by 366% in March 2024, as compared to March 2017, it explained adding that electricity bills have shot up by 34%.
BMRCL has huge debt obligations. For the financial years from 2024-2025 upto 2029-2030, it needs to repay a total loan amount of Rs 10422.2 crore. This comprises of a principal amount of Rs 6,489.75 crore and an interest amount of Rs 3,979.45 crore, it added. In addition, the depreciation requirement of its ageing assets came to Rs 7316.21 crore, the release pointed out.
Officials repeatedly stressed that the hike in fare was vital to keep the Metro network operational.
Will discuss QR ticket/ discount: BMRCL MD
BMRCL MD Maheshwar Rao said the demand from commuters to retain the 5% discount on QR tickets and the recommendation by the student union to offer a 50% discount will be placed before the BMRCL Board for its suggestion. On repeated demands from the public that the minimum balance of Rs 90 made mandatory on the Metro Travel card be reduced, the official said it was necessary to avoid congestion at the station where the passenger exits, in case the card ran out of balance.