Bengaluru Metro Fare Hike Sparks Political Confrontation Between BJP and Congress
The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) has announced a 5% increase in Namma Metro fares, effective from February 9, 2026. This decision has ignited a fierce political debate, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) squarely blaming the Congress-led state government for the rise in ticket prices.
Details of the Fare Revision
Under the new fare structure, the base fare for Bengaluru Metro will rise from Rs 10 to Rs 11, while the maximum fare will increase from Rs 90 to Rs 95. This adjustment represents a uniform 5% hike across all routes, impacting daily commuters who rely on the metro for transportation across the city.
BJP's Allegations Against Congress Government
BJP MP PC Mohan has launched a sharp critique against the Congress, highlighting that this hike follows a substantial 71% increase implemented just last year. According to Mohan, the root cause lies in the state government's financial decisions.
The core accusation centers on the withdrawal of what Mohan termed "shadow cash support" to BMRCL by the Karnataka government. He referenced the Fare Fixation Committee (FFC) report, which allegedly indicates that the Congress administration cited bankruptcy as the reason for pulling this financial backing, thereby shifting the burden onto commuters through annual fare hikes.
Flawed Calculations and Operational Costs
Mohan further elaborated on technical discrepancies in BMRCL's fare calculation methodology. He claimed that the FFC report exposes a critical error: BMRCL mixed costs from the 2016–17 fiscal year with the route length data from 2017–18. This methodological flaw, according to the BJP MP, artificially inflated the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) cost per kilometer by a staggering 366%.
Contrasting this with audited financial data, Mohan stated that the actual O&M costs increased by only 39.6%. Despite this moderate rise, fare slabs for approximately 80% of metro users were raised by over 70% in the previous adjustment, a move he attributes directly to the calculation error.
Demands for Correction and Fair Pricing
In response to these issues, PC Mohan has put forth several demands to BMRCL and the state government:
- Immediate correction of the fare calculation errors.
- Basing all future fare revisions strictly on audited O&M costs per kilometer.
- Capping any fare increase at the FFC's recommended average of 51.55%, to be applied uniformly across all fare slabs.
- Freezing fares until the operationalization of the Pink and Blue Metro lines.
"Inefficiencies within the metro corporation cannot and should not be passed on to the commuters," Mohan emphasized, underscoring the need for accountability and fair pricing in public transportation.
The fare hike, while a routine operational adjustment, has thus transformed into a significant political issue, reflecting broader tensions between the BJP and Congress in Karnataka over governance, public finance, and urban infrastructure management.
