Hyderabad: The steep fall in Metro Rail occupancy in Delhi following the increase in fares in May and October this year, helped the Telangana state government to convince Hyderabad Metro Rail developer L&T to agree to the Rs 10-Rs 60 price band against its proposed price band of Rs 20-Rs 80.
Minister for municipal administration and urban development K.T. Rama Rao is believed to have told L&T that if the ticket prices are higher, there will be a poor response which will have an impact on the completion of the remaining 32 km stretch.
Despite this, the Hyderabad Metro fares are said to be higher when compared to some other Metros due to lower kilometre slabs.
Justifying its demand for higher fare structure, L&T is learnt to have brought to the notice of the state government that it has incurred an additional expenditure of Rs 5,000 crore due to delays on account of realignment of the rail, land acquisition issues and getting railway crossing clearances.
To recover some of the losses, the government should consider the company’s fare proposals.
But Mr Rama Rao pitched for a lower price band by citing two Delhi Metro fare hikes in a year, after which occupancy came down by three lakh - from 27 lakh to 24 lakh per month. If such a situation arises here, the Hyderabad Metro Rail will be labelled a failure and this will affect future expansion, he argued.
After deliberations, the price band was lowered to Rs 10 to Rs 60. But still, the lower per km slabs prescribed by L&T makes the Hyderabad Metro costlier than the Delhi or Bengaluru Metros.
In Delhi, the fare for the first five kilometres is Rs 20, against Rs 25 for the Hyderabad metro. The price band for the 42 km long Bengaluru Metro is Rs 10 to Rs 48. A passenger travelling 42 km in Bengaluru will pay Rs 48, while for the 32 km of the Hyderabad Metro currently, passengers travelling a distance of 26 km will pay Rs 60. The Delhi Metro charges Rs 30 for a 12-km ride; Hyderabad Metro charges Rs 40 for a 21 km distance.
Tickets to be sold to VVIPs on maiden ride
Tickets will be sold to VVIP passengers for the five-km Metro Rail ride from Miyapur to Kukatpally after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates Hyderabad Metro Rail on November 28.
The first ticket worth Rs 25 will be purchased by Mr Modi, followed by Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. They will also purchase a return ticket each for Rs 25 for the return journey from Kukatpally to Miyapur.
The tickets will be later issued to Cabinet ministers, senior IAS and IPS officials and security personnel accompanying the VIPs.
Though each three-coach Metro Rail train has the capacity to ferry 1,000 passengers at a time, only 100 will be allowed in the premiere run with VVIPs due to security reasons.
Most of the passengers travelling in the first commercial trip will be security personnel including Special Protection Group of PM and security personnel of Governor and CM. While the PM, Governor and CM will purchase tickets on their own, the MAUD department is willing to bear the cost of the tickets for officials and security personnel accompanying them. Tickets will be sold to the general public on November 28 as commercial operations will be launched on November 29 at 6 am.
The ticket counters for the general public in all the stations will be opened at around 5 am on November 29. Anticipating a huge rush of people to throng the Metro stations from 4 am on November 29 to take their first Metro Rail ride, officials are making necessary arrangements by deploying additional staff to meet the demand.
Officials expect L&T to achieve breakeven on the Metro Rail project within three years and make a profit after five years, primarily due to leases and rentals of commercial properties in shopping malls, Metro stations and advertisements.
