LIFE IN CITY WILL BECOME EVEN COSTLIER WITH UNPRECEDENTED SUBURBAN FARE HIKE On Some Routes, It's Set To Treble
The hike, effective from June 25, comes just weeks before the railway budget will be tabled in Parliament.
More than half of Mumbai's population commutes by train. Western Railway ferries 35 lakh commuters every day and Central Railway 40 lakh, making for a daily total of 75 lakh commuters, in a city with a population of about 1.4 crore. Nearly 55 lakh of these commuters hold season tickets.
The unprecedented increase will be severe: some of the fares, released by officials, indicate that season ticket fares may soar nearly three times on some routes. The worst-hit will be commuters staying in the extended suburbs of Thane, Borivli, Kalyan and Virar.
Railway officials, however, argued that suburban fares are highly subsidized and the rise would partially offset their losses. WR records an annual loss of Rs 88 crore and CR Rs 571 crore.
The hikes in daily ticket fares are not as high; first-class fares have risen by between Rs 5 and Rs 20. Second-class daily ticket prices have been left unto uched except for the CST-Kalyan fare, which increases by Rs 5 (from Rs 15 to Rs 20).
Apart from the 14.2% hike in fares across all classes, the Railway Board has also decided to tweak the system of calculating season ticket fares. A Railway Board official said, "The fare for the monthly season ticket was calculated on 15 single journeys per month. However, from June 25, commuters would be charged for 30 single journeys per month."
A railway official said, "Back-of-the-envelope calculations show that the CST-Thane or Churchgate-Borivli first class season ticket holder will have to shell out Rs 1,310 per month against Rs 655 earlier. A monthly first class season ticket for Ka lyan, Vasai or Virar (from CST or Churchgate) would cost around Rs 2,000."
An average commuter staying between Mira Road and Virar or Kalwa to Badlapur-Ambernath will have to pay more than his monthly society maintenance bill. Karan Nayak, a resident of Dombivli, said, "I have a monthly maintenance bill of Rs 1,200 but the season ticket would now cost me Rs 1,900. I will have no option but to switch to travelling by second class."
A railway official said that the suburban operating ratio of CR and WR stood at 194% and 191%, respectively , for the year 2012-13. e said, "We have spent H crores on upgrading the suburban system through MUTP-I and II. That money has to be recovered to ensure that there are enough funds in the railway's kitty to undertake expansion and modernization projects."
An MRVC official justified the hike on the grounds that season ticket holders are paid conveyance by their employ ers. He said, "Why should we subsidize a person by charging only for 15 journeys when he is undertaking more than thrice that number per month?" TIMES VIEW: This paper has consistently argued against politically opportunistic, populist measures that end up hurting the economy in the long run. We believe that while governments need to subsidize the supply of what economists call `public goods and services' (could be anything from health and education to fuel and transport), especially for the weaker sections of society, pricing of such goods and services shouldn't be completely out of line with the realities of the market. Given the state of the railways' finances, a fare hike was perhaps unavoidable (although we believe we are being made to pay for inefficiency, waste and corruption).
But what Mumbai's commuters face is an increase of unconscionable proportions. It's a crushing burden, especially when one considers that the suburban network is the lifeline of this city, transporting more than half its population every day.
Millions of them are poor -they travel not for pleasure, but to eke out a living. Where will they overnight find the money to pay double and treble the existing fare? It'll only encourage ticketless travel. The government needs to reconsider the extent of the fare increase.
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