Tejasvi Surya slams metro fare hike, calls out ‘major calculation errors’ by BMRCL: Report

Bengaluru MP Tejasvi Surya criticizes BMRCL for serious mathematical errors in fare calculations, claiming a 105% hike was miscalculated and should be 50-55%.

Amid growing criticism over the recent Metro fare hike, Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya has raised serious concerns about the methodology used by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), claiming it was riddled with serious “mathematical errors”.

Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya urged a re-evaluation of the fare structure at Namma Metro for transparency. (Sansad TV)

In a strongly worded letter addressed to the BMRCL, Surya accused the agency of using faulty calculations to justify a steep fare revision, said a report by The New Indian Express. Even high school students could do better math, he said, pointing out that BMRCL wrongly calculated a 105 per cent hike, when the actual increase, based on the correct formula provided by the Fare Fixation Committee (FFC), should have been closer to 50 to 55 per cent.

Surya highlighted a key discrepancy: BMRCL claimed a 366 per cent rise in maintenance and administrative costs, but according to the MP, the actual increase should be around 118.5 per cent. He alleged this mistake stemmed from using the wrong base-year figures, leading to a false inflation of the cost hike.

In another glaring misstep, BMRCL reported a 73.16 per cent increase in costs that should have been just 23.7 per cent, leading to the inflated overall fare revision figure of 105.15 per cent, Surya added.

What’s more, he criticised the FFC for failing to review BMRCL’s data thoroughly. Instead of correcting the flawed figures, the committee simply noted the number was too high and slashed it down to 51.55 per cent, without offering any explanation, he said.

Surya also pointed out that BMRCL implemented fares even higher than what the committee recommended, with increases as high as 82 per cent on busy routes.

He urged the Metro authorities to immediately re-evaluate the fare structure, ensure transparency, and make corrections that reflect the true cost calculations.

HT.com has not independently verified the authenticity of this information.