India's metro boom hits a fare wall: Who decides what commuters pay?

As India's metro network races past 1,000 km, questions over fare setting, cost recovery, and the absence of an independent regulator reveal cracks beneath the country's shiny urban transport dream

In the race to modernise India’s cities, metro networks have become the new symbols of progress. They are sleek, silent, and politically charged. Bengaluru’s trains glide over snarled roads, but beneath the steel and glass lies a deeper story of cost, control, and accountability. As India’s metro map expands past a thousand kilometres, a quieter question also hums along the tracks: who really decides what we pay to ride?

 

Bengaluru has an operational length of metro trains of 77 kilometres, covering just a third of the proposed length in the city. But detailed project reports catering to demands for extending