Metro ridership down by an average of 1 lakh every day 

BMRCL fare hike leads to significant drop in Namma Metro ridership, causing overcrowding to decrease.

It has been a month now since the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) implemented a hike in the ticket fares of Namma Metro. In this one month, as many commuters started exploring other transportation options, the average ridership of metro has come down by almost 1 lakh tickets per day. 

According to the data available on the BMRCL website, in January 2025, the ridership was 2,49,14,736 whereas in February 2025, it came down to 2,09,90,894, almost 40 lakh fewer. 

Commenting on the ridership, a BMRCL official said, “The ridership, on an average, was about 8.5 lakh to 9 lakh on weekdays before the fare hike. After the hike, there has definitely been a fall in ridership, as it stands at 7.5 lakh to 8 lakh on average every day. Although we cannot predict the trends as of now, it is good for us even if the ridership stabilises at 8 lakh every day as of now.”

On Saturday, March 8, the ridership was 6,68,379. 

After the fare hike was implemented on February 9, many commuters noticed that the fares on their regular routes had gone up by almost 100%. Many such commuters and even political leaders demanded a rollback on the fare hike. The commuters were disappointed when the same did not happen. 

After public outrage about the fare hike, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah directed the BMRCL to revise “abnormal hikes” on February 13. A day later, BMRCL announced that the maximum hike would be capped at 71% instead of 100%.