METRO RAIL FARES LIKELY TODAY

L&T wants the fares to be higher than the figures prescribed in 2011, but TS to keep it affordable

Ticket fares for the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) are likely to be revealed on Saturday after K.T. Rama Rao, the minister of municipal administration and urban development, takes a ride from Nagole to Mettuguda along with other ministers, MPs, MLAs and MLCs from the city. The minister is likely to release a statement regarding the fares after the programme.

The HMR will be inaugurated on November 28 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and services will be opened to the public on November 29. However, there is no clarity regarding ticket prices as yet. The government will have to finalise fares within the next two days.

The project developer, L&T, was asked to submit the proposed ticket fares in October this year. According to official sources, L&T wants the fares to be higher than the figures prescribed in 2011, but the government is not in favour of this. Negotiations between them have been ongoing for the past two weeks, and they are yet to arrive at a consensus.

Chief Secretary S.P. Singh says, “The proposal regarding ticket pricing is ready. The concessionaire has already submitted it, and the concerned departments have discussed it. The prices will be notified within a day or two, once the proposal is cleared by the Chief Minister.”

As per a notification released by the Congress government in 2011, HMR tickets were to be in the `8 to `19 price band. The basic fare for a distance up to 2 km was to be `8. However, prices are expected to go up given the current circumstances. The agreement includes a provision to increase fares annually in order to account for inflation.

In March 2016, Mr Rao told the Legislative Assembly that the revised ticket prices would be in the `13 to `25 price band.

TS wants the HMR fares to be lower than the metro fares in other cities. The maximum fare in Mumbai is `110; in Chennai, it is `70; and in Delhi and Bengaluru, it is `60. TS wants the maximum fare to be `50 when the first phase of operation is launched.

—DC Trial runs of the Metro Rail from Secundrabad to Begumpet being carried out on Friday. The phase which is to be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 28 is yet to completed.