Delhi Metro ’s fare hike drops number of daily commuters by 3 lakh

NEW DELHI: The average ridership of the Delhi Metro reduced by over 3 lakh post fares hiked in 2017.Although, the shortfall in passengers is covered up by ridership in corridors launched after the fare hike, but it still falls short of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) actual ridership projections. Earlier when in May 2017 fares were hiked after eight years, five metro lines of the Delhi Metro were carrying 26.50 lakh passengers daily. Post two years, another round of fare hike came in October 2017, the same metro lines—spanning over 210 km across DelhiNCRregistered a daily average ridership of23 lakh in the first two months of 2019. Corridors that were operational pre-fare hike are the Blue, Yellow, Green, Red and Violet lines. As per DMRC records, the month-wise daily average ridership on the five lines touched 26 lakh only thrice which is in July, August and September 2017. Whereas postOctober2017, daily average ridership did not touch 24 lakh even for once. The daily average ridership on the five lines in 2018-19 was only 22.85lakh. In January and February 2019 only 23.20lakh people on an average used the old corridors. Whereas, the total daily average ridership stands at a little over 26 lakh when the new Pink and Magenta lines are considered. However, theDMRCprojected40 lakh ridership after the launch of the Phase III corridors