A month after the metro fare hike in Bengaluru, city residents took to the trains on Sunday to protest the increased ticket prices. Carrying placards and expressing their frustration, commuters voiced their concerns over the unaffordable fares, with many fearing the rise in costs would push people to rely more on personal vehicles, exacerbating the city’s traffic and pollution issues.
Author Avinash Chanchal shared images of the protest on X, showing commuters inside metro coaches demanding an immediate rollback of the fare increase. He warned that higher fares could worsen traffic congestion and pollution, further exacerbating the climate crisis. “Higher fares will only discourage the use of public transport, worsening pollution, traffic congestion, and the climate crisis,” he stated in his post.
Bengaluru’s metro, now the costliest in India, saw its highest ticket fare rise to ₹90, a move that triggered widespread frustration among daily commuters. Despite public outcry, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has only made minor adjustments to the fare structure, which many say do little to alleviate the financial strain on regular passengers.
Since the fare hike, metro ridership has seen a decline, with many commuters opting for alternative transport. The first Monday after the increase saw a 6% drop in footfall, with ridership at 8,28,149, compared to the usual numbers for Mondays.
The new fare structure now has ticket prices ranging from ₹10 for short-distance travel up to 2 km to ₹90 for journeys beyond 25 km.
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