DMRC offers discounts to decongest trains

About 15 lakh passengers travelling with Delhi Metro will only be marginally affected by the fare hike, if they plan their travel during non-peak hours and carry smart cards.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which has increased the fares, will offer discounts for commute during nonpeak hours, Sundays and national holidays.

About 28-30 lakh people travel in Delhi Metro everyday and about 50% of them travel during non-peak hours.

The revised fare will only be applicable from 8am to 12noon and then from 5pm to 9pm. Any person exiting the Metro station before or after this period will get a discount of 10%. Since the discount is applicable only for smart card holders, the total discount would be 20% as commuters already get 10% discount for using smart card.

“If a passenger is buying a token during non-peak hours, he will pay ₹50 for over 32 km but for the same journey, the smart card holder will pay ₹40. To avoid overcrowding during peak hours, an additional 10% discount is being offered. But passengers have to exit the Metro station before peak hours come into effect,” said a DMRC official.

To promote travel on Sundays and national holidays, a separate fare slab has been finalised. The Delhi government is, however, not happy with the decision.

“Delhi Metro fare hike is a wrong decision. It will adversely affect the passengers. Delhi government in its opinion had told DMRC that women and students would be adversely affected in case of a fare hike,” said a Delhi government spokesperson.

This is the fourth time since the beginning of its operations in 2002 that DMRC has revised its fares. When Delhi Metro started operations on December 25, 2002, the minimum fare was ₹4 and maximum was ₹8.

The first fare fixation committee was constituted in December 2003 and revised fares were adopted from March 31, 2004 with minimum fare at ₹6 and maximum at ₹15. The fares recommended by the second fare fixation panel were made effective form December 31, 2005 with minimum at ₹6 and maximum at ₹22.

The third fare fixation committee was constituted in June 2009 and fares were made effective from November 13, 2009 with a minimum fare of ₹8 and maximum ₹30.

The DMRC has also increased the time a passenger can spend after entering Metro premises.