Bengaluru: The controversy over Namma Metro’s steep fare hike has reignited with Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya alleging multiple discrepancies in the fare fixation committee (FFC) report released by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL).In a letter to the BMRCL managing director, Surya urged the corporation to “correct the discrepancies” in the fare revision. BMRCL had increased Metro fares by over 110% on Feb 9, later revising it down to a maximum of 71% following public backlash. The increase has made Namma Metro among the costliest Metro systems in India.“BMRCL implemented an illogical fare increase of 105%, which is not in consonance with the FFC recommendation. The actual fare increase should be around 50–55% with the correct application of the formula provided by FFC,” Surya said. He also pointed out that the corporation showed a 366% rise in maintenance and administrative costs, whereas the actual increase should have been only 118.5%.Criticising both BMRCL and the FFC, the MP said, “The committee merely observed that a 105% increase was on the higher side and proposed an average increase of 51.5% without recording valid reasons for this magical number.”Surya said the failure to ensure a fair and affordable fare structure has burdened commuters, with fares rising by up to 82% on busy routes. In contrast, Delhi Metro’s fare hike in Aug averaged just 7%.When contacted, BMRCL did not comment on the MP’s contention, which many others also had raised previously.——INSET – 1Was it a miscalculation? Expert explainsSatya Arikutharam, an independent urban mobility expert, flagged discrepancies in the FFC report and in BMRCL’s submission to the committee requesting a Metro fare hike of 105%. His explanation:-Wrong fare formula: BMRCL borrowed the Delhi Metro fare formula unnecessarily and applied it incorrectly to justify a 105% hike, even though audited data showed operating costs in Bengaluru rose by only 39.6% between 2017–18 and 2023–24. This flawed approach to determining per-km costs is the root cause of higher fares for Bengaluru commuters.-Incorrect base year: The corporation used 2016–17 as the base year for maintenance and administrative expenses instead of 2017–18, the year of the previous fare revision. This error exaggerated cost escalation.-Inflated route length: BMRCL assumed 42.2km as the operational network for 2016–17 when only 30.3km was active, overstating per-km costs and inflating the fare hike justification.-Power cost miscalculation: The electricity cost per unit was wrongly assumed in the FFC report. BMRCL did not account for concessional tariffs under KERC orders, leading to an overstatement of operational costs.-Faulty review by FFC: The fare fixation committee failed to verify data and still recommended 70–82% increases in some slabs. Of 1,126 public responses, only 27% supported any hike, but FFC treated it as backing for fare increases.-Flawed fare implementation: BMRCL switched to a ‘stations travelled’ system instead of a per-km fare, creating anomalies — short rides became cheaper than BMTC, while medium-distance commuters now pay 32% more than warranted.
