BENGALURU: For the second consecutive financial year, the Bangalore Metro Rail Network Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has clocked operational profits. It has touched Rs 129.3 crore for the fiscal 2023-2024, the highest ever, said Metro sources sharing the provisional figures readied by them. It has also clocked a ridership figure of 23.28 crore during the period on its network which now stretches to 73.8 km.
A senior Metro official said, “The revenues are in line with what we had anticipated. Our income through fares stands at Rs 735.48 crore while our expenditure stands at Rs 606.18 crore, thereby making us surplus on the operational front.”
"Any new line will contribute to increased ridership. The establishing of the crucial link between KR Pura and Baiyappanahalli stations as well as the extension to Challaghatta on the Purple Line on October 9, 2023 has contributed to this operational surplus.”
Comparatively, the fiscal 2022-2023 had a ridership of 17.72 crore and an operational surplus of Rs 108 crore as our income stood at Rs 594.01 crore only. “It is still a fantastic achievement for us considering the previous fiscal of 2021-2022, when our revenue was just Rs 228.76 crore while our expenditure stood at 345.6 crore which made us incur a loss of Rs 118 crore. The trend towards self-sufficiency in operations has been clearly established and this augurs well for BMRCL.”
Executive director, Operations and Maintenance, BMRCL, A S Shankar, “The results of the fiscal are very promising for us. It shows public are moving towards Metro travel as we had anticipated. The support given by BMTC in increasing its feeder services across our stations multifold too have contributed to it. By December this year, when the R V Road-Bommasandra Line gets launched, the ridership will surge and so will our earnings.”
Chief Public Relations Officer, BMRCL, B L Yashavanth Chavan said the average ridership per day during the just concluded financial year stood at 6.36 lakh. Asked about the impact of the connectivity to K R Pura, he said the average boarding figure on the Baiyappanahalli to Whitefield (Kadugodi) stood at 1.05 lakh daily. Baiyappanahalli is no longer a hub for passengers.”
Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Interchange station remains the top station in terms of footfalls while Benniganahalli is now the second busiest station. Indira Nagar and Nagasandra jointly occupy the third position, he added.
Ridership spike
BMRCL is finally inching towards the 8 lakh per day ridership figure and has done it twice this week. “We had a ridership figure of 7.96,577 on Thursday (April 18) due to the CET exam candidates opting to take a Metro ride,” Shankar said. On April 15, its ridership stood at 7,92,505 due to an IPL match and extension in timings. The only time it breached 8 lakh was on August 15, 2022, due to a Congress rally and Independence Day Flower show at Lal Bagh when it had 8.25,190 riders.