Express Line ridership up after price cut

The Delhi Express Metro line has reported an increase of 22.5 per cent in its ridership after the September 18 fare cut of up to 50 per cent.

The average ridership, which touched an all-time high of 32,000 on October 29, has gone up from 23,644 in June 1-September 17, 2015, to 28,970 in September 18-October 31, data from the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, which manages the Airport Line, shows.

Now, the minimum fare stands at Rs 10 from Rs 20 while the maximum fare is priced at Rs 60 from Rs 100. The September 18 reduction is the second price revision after July 2014.

The DMRC denied that more price reduction was in the offing.When the DMRC took over operations on July 1, 2013, after Reliance terminated its concessionaire agreement due to revenue loss, the average ridership was 10,000. If the July 2013 figures are compared with October 2015 data, the increase is as much as 190 per cent.

“Apart from the price cut, the spike is the result of many factors. We have been asking passengers on the Blue Line (Dwarka-Noida corridor) to use the Express Metro as it will save time and money. We intend to make the Airport Line more accessible to the people. We also want commuters from Dwarka to use the Airport line to commute to the city centre. Interporatibility of Metro card has also increased commuters’ numbers,” a Metro official said.

Indicating a revival of sorts for the 22.7 corridor, the operating ratio (total working expenses to earning) has come down from 2.7 (July1, 2013) to 1.08 despite two phases of price cut, according to the data. The DMRC targets to break even in the next two years.

For the high-speed stretch, there are eight six-coach trains as no plans are afoot to increase the fleet. The peak hour frequency of trains is 10 minutes while for non-peak hour it is 15 minutes.