Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has blamed the Centre for the Bengaluru Metro fare hike—the second in lower than a 12 months—saying the fares are decided by a panel that’s below the area of the Ministry of Housing and City Affairs. 

He mentioned the metro isn’t just a transport system however a logo of the town’s aspiration, progress and lifeline of lakhs of commuters, who included working professionals, college students and households. 

The unbiased fare fixation committee (FFC) is “solely constituted by the Authorities of India by the Ministry of Housing and City Affairs”, he added.

His statements come a day after the Bengaluru Metro introduced the second fare hike, fuelling anger amongst commuters and drawing sharp criticism from the opposition events. The revision comes into impact on 9 February. 

In a press release Thursday, the Bangalore Metro Rail Company Restricted (BMRCL) mentioned that the revision of fare after 7.5 years and optimisation of fare zones from 29 to 10 has resulted in a mean improve of 51.55 %. 

“With a view to keep away from such a state of affairs of rare and steep fare will increase in future, the committee has really useful in its report back to revise the fare yearly by having a clear Annual Automated Fare Revision System linked with O&M value or 5 % each year whichever is decrease by rounding off to the closest rupee,” the BMRCL mentioned. 

The fare hikes have fuelled a disagreement between the Congress occasion and the Bharatiya Janata Celebration (BJP)-led authorities on the centre. 

Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya has made many representations to BMRCL, together with making a presentation to Metro officers in November, searching for a discount in fares. 

On Friday, he wrote on X once more, taking a swipe on the CM in gentle of his newest remarks.

Public is bored with listening to your excuses, Mr CM. When you waited to “formally” take this up, Bengalureans had been made to endure a steep hike for almost a 12 months. You lastly appear to have woken up after persistent public opposition, after a 12 months of our constant efforts to attract… https://t.co/YhJPivREpM pic.twitter.com/3GwGEpTrQ9

— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) February 6, 2026

“You lastly appear to have woken up after persistent public opposition, after a 12 months of our constant efforts to attract your consideration to this matter.”

Surya additional wrote that Karnataka’s personal city improvement and finance departments’ letters to the BMRCL “present fare revision was perceived as ‘crucial’ to scale back the state authorities’s monetary burden”. The FFC could also be statutory, however the “inputs, intent and affordability stance” comes from the State, he added. 

“The push for larger fares began out of your aspect to ease fiscal strain. So please don’t faux the State is a helpless bystander,” wrote Surya.

Bengaluru already has the steepest fares for metro throughout India and Thursday’s hike makes it that rather more costly. For below 0-2 kms, the fare will probably be elevated from Rs 10 to Rs 11 whereas the longest journey, 10-30 kms will go up from Rs 90 to Rs 95. 

In November, earlier than Thursday’s worth hikes, Surya had identified that for a 20-25 km journey, the cost in Bengaluru metro is Rs 80 whereas it’s simply Rs 64 in Delhi (32 kms). Equally, a 12-18 km journey in Bengaluru prices Rs 60 whereas it’s half the worth in Mumbai.

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Additionally Learn: Bengaluru Metro unlikely to revise excessive fares. However why is Namma Metro so costly?

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‘Hikes testomony to fledgling funds’ 

In keeping with the Metro, the ‘basic precept’ is that metro prices are about 1.5 instances that of an AC bus service. 

However for these travelling longer distances, the bus possibility stays way more viable. 

In keeping with BMRCL, it prices Rs 70 by Metro for a distance of 15-20 km as in opposition to Rs 40 in an AC bus, Rs 28 in non-AC bus. For 20-25 km, the Metro fare is Rs 80 as in opposition to Rs 45 (AC bus) and Rs 30 (non-AC bus). 

The allegation in opposition to the BMRCL is that it used the improper base 12 months when it calculated the fare hikes, ThePrint reported in November 

To resolve the hike, BMRCL used 2016-17 as its base 12 months when 30.03 km was operational as in opposition to 42.3 km in 2017-18. Mobility consultants mentioned that this method was inconsistent with established norms and practices throughout the nation. The Bengaluru Metro accounts for a big chunk of the town’s mass public transport infrastructure funds. However its highest single day ridership has been only one million in a metropolis that has 14 million individuals. The metro has 96 km of operational traces in an 800 sq km-wide metropolis. 

Because the fare hikes had been introduced, there was outrage over the every day Metro commute that’s pinching pockets of strange residents. 

“That is very very improper. Metro is a public utility utilized by numerous individuals. It must have a low fare to ensure individuals use public transport and never 2W’s. Elevating fares like it will solely create extra visitors congestion…,” Mohandas Pai, former Infosys CFO and co-founder of Aarin capital, posted on X. 

He added that the hikes had been a “improper resolution” because the Congress authorities, by its ensures, was giving free bus transport for all girls in Karnataka.

The Opposition and different sections of society have accused the Siddaramaiah authorities of doling out freebies price over Rs 50,000 crore yearly that forces the administration to tax others to mitigate the losses. 

“Up to now, they haven’t made any intervention to deal with the monetary hardship of metro vacationers – plainly as a result of the CM and DCM haven’t any concern. I had earlier written to the CM and DCM, met the officers of BMRCL a number of instances, identified the anomalies within the report, and even raised the difficulty in Parliament. But, the CM and DCM have chosen silence over accountability…,” BJP MP Surya mentioned in a put up Thursday. 

R. Ashoka, the Chief of the Opposition, mentioned that the fare hikes had been a testomony to the fledgling funds in Karnataka.

“The 51.55 % hike in Namma Metro fares has nothing to do with the Union Authorities. It’s a direct results of the  @INCKarnataka authorities’s weak funds, poor fiscal self-discipline, and financial mismanagement….,” Ashok mentioned Friday.

The BJP chief added that when governance fails and the treasury is mismanaged, residents are compelled to pay the worth.

Siddaramaiah hit again, stating that the fare hikes had been half of a bigger sample which incorporates hurting Karnataka by “decreased tax devolution, denial of honest grants, delays in infrastructure assist” and now fare hikes, which weaken public transport and make every day life costlier for residents. 

(Edited by Tony Rai)

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Additionally Learn: L&T exit apart, Bengaluru’s suburban rail dream faces one other huge hurdle—shinier big-ticket initiatives

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