Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The metro train is running into a huge loss since its inception. The estimated operation cost of the metro train in a month is around Rs 2.5 crore. This means that the per-day
operation cost of the metro is Rs 8 lakh. However, the average per day income is a mere Rs 15,000.
Now the metro management is mulling over increasing the trips by two to three times in future to net extra revenue.
When contacted, managing director, Madhya Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation Limited, S Krishna Chaitanya told the Free Press that revenue would not increase until there was end to end connectivity.
However, he said that signalling work of the metro train was likely to get completed by March and by then, two to three trips could be increased which might bring some extra revenue.
Notably, in the wake of poor footfall, the metro management had cut down four morning trips from January 5, taking the total metro trips to 13. Earlier, there were 17 trips.
Tenders for ad space
Sources added that to get some extra revenue, the metro management had floated tenders to lease out space for advertisements at metro stations. The tenders are yet to be opened.
Metro used mainly for joy rides
Sources in the Metro Rail Corporation said that currently the metro train was being used for joy rides by people. This could be gauged from the fact that on weekends, footfall increased substantially and during normal days, it remained low. In the starting phase of commercial operation of the metro, the footfall had reached around 7000 but now it was around 400 per day, they said.
Two lines
The Bhopal Metro project has two lines, i.e Orange and Blue Line. Currently the metro train is running on the priority corridor on Orange line, length of which is around 7.5 km.
