Delhi Metro revises fares after 8 years; maximum charge at Rs 50

Minimum charge has been set at Rs 10 and will come into effect from May 10

Biting the bullet on fare revision, Delhi Metro today announced upward revision of its tariffs starting Wednesday, with the base fare being increased to Rs 10 from Rs 8. Last fare revision of metro fares was in 2009.

The current revision would be done in two phases - May 10 and October 1, 2017.

"There will be a total of six fare slabs as against the existing 15 fare slabs with a minimum fare of Rs 10 and a maximum fare of Rs 50 in Phase I," Delhi Metro said in a press release.

The minimum fare would remain the same but the maximum fare would go up to Rs 60 from October 1.

The fare revision has been recommended by the 4th Fare Fixation Committee as per the provisions of Delhi Metro Rail (Operation & Maintenance) Act, 2002. The 4th FFC was set up after almost 7 years.

The panel is a three member committee chaired by an existing and/or a retired judge of High Court and one representative each at the level of Additional Secretary from the Central Government and the State Government.

"The necessity of revision in fares was on account of increase in the cost of inputs -- staff costs, the cost of energy and the cost of repair & maintenance," the DMRC statement said.

It said, there has been increase in the rate of industrial DA (dearness allowance) by 95.5%, rate of Central DA by 103% and average increase in the rate of minimum wages by 156.2%.

With a view to encourage ridership on Sundays and National Holidays special discounted fares have been approved.

Prevailing 10% discount on every journey made by the passengers using Smart Card would be continued.

"To avoid overcrowding during peak hours, an additional 10% discount will be given to the passengers using Smart Card who exit from metro system during off peak hours. But the same would be available from Monday to Saturday," the statement added.

The value of Tourist Card for 1 day and 3 days validity shall be Rs 200 and Rs 500, respectively, including a security deposit of Rs 50.

Fares of the Airport Express line remain unchanged.

The 1st fare fixation committee was constituted in December 2003 and revised fares were adopted from March 31, 2004. The fares recommended by the 2nd FCC were made effective from December 31, 2005. The last fare revision came into effect from November 13, 2009.