A detailed analysis of the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited’s (BMRCL) fare revision earlier this year has raised questions about possible calculation errors in the official methodology. According to an urban mobility expert, discrepancies in the way operating costs were computed may have resulted in commuters paying significantly more than justified — by as much as 32 per cent.
Following the fare hike in February 2025, Metro passengers are paying a minimum price of Rs 10 and a maximum of Rs 90, making Bengaluru Metro the costliest in the country.
The debate over Metro fares traces back to 2016, when the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) faced scrutiny for a similar issue. At the time, the DMRC justified steep fare increases on the basis of rising Maintenance and Administration costs. However, its calculations were found to be flawed because they compared absolute costs across years without accounting for network expansion.
Larger networks naturally have higher costs, and experts argued that a per-kilometre cost comparison was the fairer approach. The 4th Fare Fixation Committee (FFC) corrected this error, preventing an inflated fare burden on Delhi commuters.
Base calculations ‘distorted’
In Bengaluru’s case, critics allege that the BMRCL has repeated the same mistake. While the corporation stated that it used the per-kilometre formula, an examination of the figures suggests that absolute costs were effectively applied instead. This, they argue, distorted the base calculations and exaggerated the rate of increase in operational expenses. Experts have also pointed out that this approach completely ignored the fact that Bengaluru’s Metro network expanded significantly from approximately 42 km in 2017 to over 70 km by 2024.
Satya Arikutharam, an independent mobility expert, says, “For instance, BMRCL reported cost per km pertaining to Repairs and Maintenance (R&M), and Administration costs were derived from the 2016-17 statements as Rs 0.38 crore per kilometre. But using audited data of 2017-18, when the last fare increase happened, the figure should have been Rs 0.81 crore per kilometre. The lower base of 2016-17 inflated the growth percentage, making cost escalation appear higher than it was.”
The effect was substantial. On BMRCL’s numbers, R&M and Administration costs seemed to have risen by 366 per cent, compared to the corrected figure of 118.5 per cent, if the right base year of 2017-19 was considered, Arikutharam adds.
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Consequently, the fare hike requirement was presented as 105 per cent, while corrected calculations based on actual historic data suggest the justified increase would be closer to 40 per cent with an annual increase of 5 per cent until the next review. Effectively, the FFC recommended fares are 32 per cent higher than what they ought to be for the majority of commuters, shows the analysis.
The FFC data also shows that the actual audited increase in Bengaluru Metro’s operations and maintenance (O&M) cost per kilometre between 2017 and 2024 was 39.6 per cent, but critics point out that the BMRCL and the FFC calculated it as more than 72 per cent, using a flawed method that inflated the numbers and justified a 105 per cent fare hike in their table.
‘Flawed calculations led to 32% excessive fare hike’
In effect, the gap between the correct increase (around 40%) and the overstated figure (about 72%) represents the excess burden placed on commuters. While technically this means the increase was overstated by over 80 per cent, for passengers the impact is simpler: fares that should have gone up by 40 per cent were raised by 72 per cent, leaving citizens paying roughly 32 per cent more than justified, critics argue.
To put it in everyday terms, if a Rs 20 ticket should have risen to Rs 28, it instead went up to Rs 34 — an extra Rs 6, or about one-third higher. This means Bengaluru commuters are effectively bearing an additional 32 per cent on their Metro fares due to calculation errors.
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Arikutharam added, “Repairs and Maintenance cost per km data presented in the FFC Report reveals that BMRCL used a low base year in 2017/18 to exaggerate the rise in costs per kilometre when compared with 2023/24, which is misleading. The increase in O&M costs is primarily driven by network expansion and inflation, but BMRCL focused solely on cost increases, overlooking network growth. As a result, Bengaluru citizens are facing a 32 per cent excessive fare hike due to flawed calculations. The revised fares should be rolled back immediately.”
BMRCL defends rates
The Metro body, on its part, has defended its methodology. According to S Sivamathan, Director (Finance), BMRCL, the R&M expenses in the audited accounts were adjusted by reclassifying certain outsourced manpower costs. He explained that housekeeping, security and ticket office machine (TOM) staff costs — being outsourced employee expenses — were treated as part of “salaries and wages,” with changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) used to capture their impact.
“Similarly, power and fuel were categorised under energy costs and linked directly to the rate per unit. On this basis, the said calculation was accurate: from the total R&M expenses of Rs 104.37 crore in 2017–18, we added administration expenses of Rs 7.91 crore, deducted power and fuel costs of Rs 30.37 crore and outsourced manpower costs of Rs 65.66 crore, leaving a balance of Rs 16.25 crore. Divided by 42.30 route kilometres, this works out to Rs 0.38 crore per km,” Sivamathan told The Indian Express, maintaining that the correct figure was used in the FFC report.