BENGALURU: Hundreds of students, senior citizens, and members of the Bangalore Metro Commuters Association (BMCA) staged a protest at Freedom Park on Saturday evening, demanding an immediate rollback of the recent metro fare hike.
Chanting slogans like ‘Rollback Namma Metro fare hike’ and holding placards warning commuters of the ‘BMRCL pauperisation zone,’ protesters voiced their discontent against the increased ticket prices.
Speaking to TNIE, Rajesh Bhatt, BMCA member said that over 100 people participated in the protest, and an online petition launched last week against the hike had already collected around 6,000 signatures. Additionally, offline signature campaigns are being conducted at major metro stations.
“We demand that BMRCL immediately rollback the fare hike, convene a meeting with commuters, and release a white paper detailing its profit and loss statement. They must account for the taxpayer money and CESS funds collected for metro construction,” Bhatt said.
“Public transport should not be run on a profit-and-loss basis. The metro is not a private entity but a public service funded by taxpayers and no public consultation was done before implementing the fare revision,” he added.