Call to slash KMRL fares to make Kochi metro affordable
The Hindu
Govt. must ensure that maximum number of people use the transport system, says E. Sreedharan
While welcoming schemes that Kochi Metro Rail Limited is rolling out to woo students and other commuters to the metro, key stakeholders say the agency, which is incurring loss to the tune of ₹1 crore per day, has no option but to slash fares to make the transport system affordable.
The recent moves to increase passenger patronage in the metro were welcome, said ‘Metroman’ and noted engineer E. Sreedharan, who oversaw the project’s execution. “Right from the beginning, I was telling KMRL that the metro’s fare structure was very high and unaffordable for most people. From experience across the country, the thumb rule is that any metro agency levying fare that is over 1.5 to two times the ordinary bus fare, is making a mistake,” he said.
The Government, which was subsidising the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) to the tune of ₹120 crore per month, must also ensure that maximum number of people travel in the metro so that ordinary people too benefit from the system built using public funds, he said. KMRL must further bring down the fare structure so that more commuters travel and the revenue-expenditure gap reduces in the long run, said Mr Sreedharan.