Bengaluru, 5 Feb

Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya met Union Housing Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday over the Metro fare hike. He said that the fare hike stemmed from multiple math errors and urged the Union Minister to put the annual hike on hold.

The Bangalore MetroRail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) confirmed that the annual automatic fare revision will come into effect from 9 February, and will hike prices between Rs 1 to Rs 5 based on the distance. It said it was being implemented as per the First Fare Fixation Committee (FFC) constituted under the Metro Railways (Operation & Maintenance) Act, 2002.

However, Surya said that the revision has made the City’s Metro the most expensive in the country. Sharing a letter he submitted to Khattar on X, Surya said that there were “multiple arithmetic errors in the revised fare calculation. These errors arise mainly due to the selection of the wrong base year of 2016-17”.

Even though these have been flagged several times, the BJP leader stated, “the BMRCL is yet to correct the anomalies. Commuters, as a result, are continuing to be overcharged for their Metro travel.”

Surya urged Khattar to constitute a new FCC for Bengaluru to rectify the anomalies. He also requested the annual hike be put on hold until the fares are rationalised. On X, Surya added that the Union Minister responded positively.

Notably, the BMRCL received massivebacklash last year after a steep hike.