Steep fare hike will 'kill' Delhi Metro: Kejriwal

New Delhi: The steep fare hike will “kill” Delhi Metro, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said today, a day after an RTI revealed that the metro lost over three lakh commuters a day due to the fare increase.
Kejriwal also asked what purpose the metro serves if people stop using it.

“This steep hike in metro fare will kill Delhi Metro. If people stop using it, then what purpose does it serve?,” Kejriwal tweeted. Yesterday, the chief minister said that recent metro fare hike has not benefited anyone.

Kejriwal, who along with his Aam Aadmi Party had opposed the fare hike, had also said that many passengers have taken to other means of transport, leading to increased pollution and congestion on the city’s roads.

Last month, he had called metro fare hike “anti-people”. Also, the Delhi Assembly had passed a resolution to oppose the fare increase by the Delhi Metro with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, alleging that it was a “conspiracy” to benefit private cab companies.

According to the RTI query by a PTI correspondent, the metro’s daily average ridership came down to 24.2 lakh in October from 27.4 lakh in September, a fall of around 11 per cent.

On October 10, the DMRC effected the fare hike, leading to a rise of around Rs 10 for nearly every distance slab. This came barely five months of another hike of up to 100 per cent.