Post fourfold fare hike, Nagpur Metro ridership takes a hit

Staff Reporter

With Maha Metro resorting to yet another hike in the fares of Nagpur Metro, the riders are having second thoughts about their patronage, as in these days of inflation every penny counts. As per reports the hike in fares is fourfold within a period of one month on part of metro giving jolt to the regular customers. Owing to steep hike in fares, people are now having second thoughts about extending their patronage to Nagpur Metro, as they say for daily travel this is quite taxing.

In fact, the immediate effect of hike in ticket fare was visible on ridership of Maazi Metro, that has fallen below one lakh commuters. At start of the new year the ridership had jumped phenomenally to beyond two lakh commuters, but that was more of joy ride as people were enjoying their holiday. As one reached the month end, the ridership of Nagpur Metro has dipped to 91,517 on January 29 before picking up to 96,589 on January 30. But in days to come as people realise the distinct difference in fares of bus as compared to metro, the footfalls at metro station may slide drastically.

But even as Nagpurians were enjoying their metro travel but buoyed by huge response, Maha Metro officials started hiking the ticket fares much to the disbelief of commuters. First the fare was brought to pre-Covid-19 level. Still it had no effect on ridership, though some murmuring started as citizens were feeling the pinch of the hike. However, even before dust had settled on it, metro again increased the fare much to the annoyance of citizens.

Now two more times the fare was hiked during the month, and this time even short distance stops were included. During earlier round of hike, Maha Metro official stance was that only end to end travellers would feel the hike while they have kept fares intact on short distance routes where maximum ticket sales occurs. However the fourth hike in fares has put a big question mark before commuters and already they have started looking beyond metro for their daily rides. Meanwhile parents are worried over the hike as for them now comparison with alternative mode of transport is now imminent. For example earlier from Jhansi Rani to Subhash Nagar the ride cost Rs 5 and post first increase to Rs 10. In aftermath of latest round of hike, the ticket on same route now costs Rs 20. Hence some of the school going students and even daily travellers have already switched over to Aapli Bus of NMC as it is a bit cheaper on the same distance as compared to Maazi Metro ride. The bus ride on same route costs Rs 13, thus the saving of Rs 7 per day means quite a lot for budget minded people.

When contacted Akhilesh Halve, Deputy General Manager, Corporate Communications, Maha Metro, explained the logic of fares, saying earlier only two routes were operational, that too on short distance. Now entire first phase of metro is fully operational and end to end distance on Orange Route and Aqua Route has increased, so ticket slabs are based on distance commuted. However for common man the rationale of Maha Metro sound hollow as they claim that ride in city bus, though little uncomfortable, it's still cheaper. And when one has to undertake daily travel, savings of few hundred rupees these days is all that matters.

Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) has slammed Maha Metro for steep hike in metro fares and are planning to hit the streets. Since elections to NMC is round the corner, political big wigs in city are worried over its impact on their parties and hence are in mood to launch an agitation. In fact, Maha Metro officials had time and again touted as to how Nagpur Metro model is most profitable and unique due to maximum leverage of non-fare revenue that enabled them to keep fare at moderate level. However all those tall claims now stand shattered.