Delhi Metro ridership falls by 3.2 lakh during fare-hike month

-The Times of India

NEW DELHI: Delhi Metro witnessed a massive dip of more than three lakh in daily ridership in October this year as compared with the previous month. This is the steepest month-to-month fall in Metro ridership ever and appears to be linked to the fare hike in October.

On October 10, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) implemented the second phase of fare hike after the first round of hike in May this year. Daily ridership had also fallen in June 2017 by nearly 1.5 lakh when compared with June 2016, and by around 0.8 lakh over the previous month.

DMRC, however, claimed that the dip in ridership in October was due to other factors such as the numerous festivals and holidays during the month. It said daily ridership had gone up in November, though it didn't share the figures.

Metro's average daily ridership figure of 24.2 lakh in October was 3.2 lakh less than the September figure of 27.4 lakh, a drop of nearly 12%.

Fares have gone up by nearly 100% across most slabs. The pre-May fare range was Rs 8 to Rs 30 while current fares range from Rs 10 to Rs 60.

The Delhi Metro, which has seen its ridership spiral with the opening of each new corridor since it started operations in 2002, first saw a dip in ridership in May this year, after the first fare hike. The dip in the month of October is its steepest ever.

Denying a link with the raised fares, the DMRC spokesperson said, "The drop in the ridership in October 2017 is not solely attributable to increase in fares as there are otherwise monthly variations through the year. In October, there were five Sundays as compared to four in September. Ridership on Sundays is around 60-70% of that on working days. Ridership depends on multiple factors such as seasons, vacations, holidays, festivals etc," the spokesperson said.

He said October had started with a long weekend due to Dussehra falling on September 30, followed by Gandhi Jayanti on October 2. "The month also witnessed extended weekends and holidays due to festivals of Diwali, Chhath Pooja, Bhai Duj, Goverdhan etc," he said.

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