After Karnataka CM's Direction, BMRCL To Reduce Namma Metro Fares On Some Sections

The BMRCL on February 9 had effected fare hike in range of Rs 10 to Rs 90 from the previous Rs 10 to Rs 60.

Bengaluru:Heeding to public demand and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's direction to reduce abnormal metro fare hikes, the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) on Thursday decided to revisit the metro fares between some stations and new fares are expected to come into effect from Friday itself.

The Metro had effected the revised fares from last Sunday (February 9) and the increase ranged from Rs 10 to Rs 90 vis-a-vis the earlier range of Rs 10 to Rs 60. Barring the base distance slab of Rs 10, it increased the fares on all distance slabs by Rs 5 to Rs 30. Though the BMRCL claimed the maximum hike was capped at 50 per cent, several commuters claimed the hike was more than 100% on some sections.

Admitting that there were some errors in the calculation of certain fair slabs as highlighted by the commuters, BMRCL MD Maheshwara Rao on Thursday said that the recalibration of fares on certain sections was on and the new fares will come into effect from February 14.

He said that of the 4,624 stations combinations, the fare increase over 380 combinations was found to be more than 90%. "We are rectifying them by capping the maximum fare hike to 71%. This will benefit around 46% commuters," he added. However, the price range will remain between Rs 10 and Rs 90.