Mumbai metro fares hiked by Rs 5

The new fare structure will come into effect from December 1.

Mumbai Metro One (MMOPL), which is operating the Versona-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor, on Friday said it will increase the fares by Rs 5 from December 1.

"MMOPL has announced moderate increase in fare for the corridor while still keeping the fares significantly below the recommendations of the Fare Fixation Committee (FFC). The new fare structure will be effective from December 1," the company said in a statement.

Instead of the earlier slabs of Rs 10, 20, 30 and 40, the new structure will have five slabs of Rs 10, 20, 25, 35 and 45. The fare slabs per trip for the return journey token category have been similarly revamped from Rs 10, 15, 25 and 30 to Rs 10, 20, 22.50, 30 and 35 now.

The number of fare slabs has also been increased from the previous four to five now, in order to align the fare structure with the recommendations of the FFC.

"The new fare structure which will come into effect from December 1 is heavily discounted against the FFC recommended fare of Rs 10 to Rs 110. We will continue to remain engaged with all stakeholders to achieve the dual objective of affordable fare and business sustainability," an MMOPL spokesperson said.

The FFC had recommended a fare structure of Rs 10 to Rs 110 in July after detailed scrutiny of all aspects. It had also advised MMOPL to approach the state government for suitable assistance to lower the fare while achieving business viability.

"While MMOPL continues to suffer losses of about Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) per year, we chose to defer any fare revision till November 30, 2015, and engage with the government with an intent to find a viable solution and to avoid giving any shock to its valued commuters. We will continue to pursue the matter," the spokesperson said.

Against the maximum fare of Rs 110 recommended by the FFC, the maximum fare for Mumbai Metro after the revision is only Rs 45, while the minimum fare remains the same as before at Rs 10.

As per the new tariff, a hike of about Re 1 per trip has been made in the fare charged on the 45 trip monthly pass which is currently available in two slabs of Rs 675 and Rs 900 for short and long trips, respectively.

These monthly passes will now be available for Rs 725 and Rs 950, which works out to an increase of just over Re 1 per trip, the statement said.

The increase in the fare per trip for the commuters holding store value passes is just Rs 2. Instead of the four earlier fare slabs of Rs 10, 18, 27 and 32, the revamped structure has five slabs of Rs 10, 20, 22, 29 and 34 in this category.