AAP govt or Centre cannot fix Delhi Metro fares; there's panel for it: Puri

Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said on Saturday that the decision to hike the price of Delhi Metro was taken by the fare fixation committee and neither the Delhi government nor the Central government has authority to decide.

"When fare is increased, its impact is studied by taking in account data of at least two to three months. Neither Delhi government nor the Central government has authority to decide fares of Delhi Metro, only fare fixation committee can do that," he told ANI.

According to an RTI reply, over three lakh commuters stopped taking Delhi Metro in October after the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) increased the passenger fare for the second time this year.

As part of the two phase revision of Metro fares recommended by the committee, the fare would remain Rs. 10 for the first 2 km but will subsequently increase by Rs. 10 in each slab, going up to a maximum of Rs. 60.

The metro fares were last revised in May when the minimum tariff was raised from Rs. 8 to Rs. 10.

The revised fare structure is: up to 2 km - Rs. 10, 2-5 km - Rs. 20, 5-12 km - Rs. 30, 12-21 km - Rs. 40, 21-32 km - Rs. 50 and for journeys beyond 32 km - Rs. 60.
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Delhi Metro revises fares after 8 years; maximum charge at Rs 50

Biting the bullet on fare revision, Delhi Metro today announced upward revision of its tariffs starting Wednesday, with the base fare being increased to Rs 10 from Rs 8. Last fare revision of metro fares was in 2009.

The current revision would be done in two phases - May 10 and October 1, 2017.

"There will be a total of six fare slabs as against the existing 15 fare slabs with a minimum fare of Rs 10 and a maximum fare of Rs 50 in Phase I," Delhi Metro said in a press release.

The minimum fare would remain the same but the maximum fare would go up to Rs 60 from October 1.

The fare revision has been recommended by the 4th Fare Fixation Committee as per the provisions of Delhi Metro Rail (Operation & Maintenance) Act, 2002. The 4th FFC was set up after almost 7 years.

The panel is a three member committee chaired by an existing and/or a retired judge of High Court and one representative each at the level of Additional Secretary from the Central Government and the State Government.

"The necessity of revision in fares was on account of increase in the cost of inputs -- staff costs, the cost of energy and the cost of repair & maintenance," the DMRC statement said.

It said, there has been increase in the rate of industrial DA (dearness allowance) by 95.5%, rate of Central DA by 103% and average increase in the rate of minimum wages by 156.2%.

With a view to encourage ridership on Sundays and National Holidays special discounted fares have been approved.
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