The fare hike, which came into effect earlier this year, triggered sharp opposition from political parties and daily commuters.
| Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar
The long-awaited Fare Fixation Committee (FFC) report, released after a delay of seven months, has revealed that the likely withdrawal of Shadow Cash Support (SCS) by the Karnataka government is among the key reasons cited by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) for seeking a fare hike.
In its proposal to the committee, BMRCL stated that until now, the State government had been providing SCS through budgetary allocations. This included reimbursement of operational cash losses and interest-free subordinate debt towards loan repayment to the Government of India and domestic financial institutions.
“Given the present financial position of the State government, it may not continue to provide the SCS,” the FFC noted in its report.
Another major justification offered by BMRCL is that the existing fare structure was last fixed in June 2017, when Phase-1 of the metro covering 42.3 km was operational. Since then, 7.5 years have elapsed, and operational costs have risen significantly. Staff salaries, energy expenses, outsourced workforce costs, maintenance, and other expenditures have all increased, while revenue continues to be realised at 2016 price levels, the corporation said.
Opposition slams government
The fare hike, which came into effect earlier this year, triggered sharp opposition from political parties and daily commuters. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has criticised both the government and BMRCL for what it termed as “burdening citizens.”
Speaking to The Hindu, Bengaluru Central MP P.C. Mohan demanded a rollback of the increase as soon as possible. “Instead of subsidising metro operations, the government has shifted the financial burden onto the people. Bengaluru contributes one of the highest shares of tax revenue to the State, yet city residents are denied basic infrastructure support in the form of affordable public transport. The fare should be aligned with what the FFC has recommended,” he said.
Tejasvi Surya, Bengaluru South MP, told The Hindu that this is “yet another instance that underscores how the Congress government is systematically destroying public transport in Bengaluru.” “The fact that it was BMRCL that proposed a 105% fare hike for the metro further exposes the intent of the Central government to stop its Shadow Cash Support for metro. The shadow cash support is meant to keep metro commute affordable for the common man. Instead, we have now arrived at a situation where affordability has sharply declined. This has directly led to a steep drop in metro ridership by 13% after the fare hike was announced.”
“From steep hikes in property tax, milk prices, electricity, stamp duty, excise, to the base fare of buses and metro, the Siddaramaiah government is using the common man’s money to fund their guarantees,” he added.
The Hindu tried reaching Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D.K. Shivakumar for his response, but did not get any. BMRCL Managing Director Ravishankar J. was also not available for comment.
Published – September 12, 2025 09:10 pm IST
