JKS demand 50pc cut in metro rail fare

Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity (JKS) has demanded the reduction of per kilometre metro rail fare by 50 percent, since they think that the fare fixed by the authority is much higher compared with neighbouring countries.
The metro rail authority has fixed the fare for the first one kilometre Tk 5 keeping the minimum fare Tk 20 and the maximum fare Tk 100 for the 20-kilometre-long route from Uttara to Matijheel.
As per the fare chart, the fare for the route from Diabari (Uttara) to Agargaon will be Tk 60 as the metro rail service will partially be opened on December 28.
Following this fare chart of the country’s first ever metro rail service, Secretary General of Jatri Kalyan Samity Mozammel Haque Chowdhury during a press conference at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity in the capital demanded fare reduction by 50 percent. He said that such fare is not at all fair considering the people’s socio-economic condition.
“The socio-economic condition, per capita income and average GDP of Dhaka should be considered before fixing the fare. The per kilometre fare of Dhaka metro rail is four times higher than that of Kolkata. It will badly affect the interests of commuters,” he said.
Quoting the Kolkata Metro Rail fare, he said, “The Kolkata Metro Rail Authority has mentioned on their website that the metro rail fare in Kolkata is the lowest compared with their road transportation fares.”
“The minimum fare for metro rail in Kolkata is Rs 5 or Tk 6, whereas the minimum fare of metro rail in Dhaka is Tk 20. The maximum fare of metro rail in Kolkata is Rs 25 or Tk 31. Whereas the maximum fare of metro rail in Dhaka is Tk 100,” he added.
“By fixing the fare four times higher, it will damage the interest of the passengers, but the private bus companies will be benefited. The financially incapable commuters will lose their capacity to use metro rail. The metro rail as public transport will fail to achieve its goal,” Mozammel Haque Chowdhury.
He also mentioned that the metro rail fare in Kolkata and Delhi is low because the expenditure for the constructions of their metro rails was also low compared with Dhaka’s.
The per kilometre cost for the construction of Delhi Line-1 metro rail was $ 5.6 crore, in Jakarta of Indonesia between the years 2013-2019 it was $ 7.5 crore, in Hanoi of Vietnam between 2011-2021 it was $ 6.5 crore and in Lahore between 2015-2020 it was $6.61 crore, and whereas the construction cost for the same distance for the Dhaka Metro Rail is $ 23.40 crore, he added.
City Planner Engineer Mohammad Emdadul Islam said, “The metro rail is being constructed at high cost compared with others in Asian countries. Now the fare has been set high in a bid to realise it from the passengers. It will eventually benefit the bus companies.”
 Among others, Samity Vice-President Tawhidul Haque, Joint Secretary General M Monirul Haque and General Secretary of Nagorik Sanghati Sharifuzzaman Sharif, were present.