Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has blamed the Centre for the Bengaluru Metro fare hike—the second one in less than a year—saying the fares are determined by a panel that is under the domain of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
He said the metro is not just a transport system but a symbol of the city’s aspiration, progress and lifeline of lakhs of commuters, who included working professionals, students and families.
“I fully understand the concern and anguish expressed by commuters following the recent revision in metro fares. A responsible government must listen first, and I assure the people of Karnataka that your voice matters to us. It is important, however, for the people of Karnataka to know the truth, not political deception,” Siddaramaiah said in a statement Friday.
The independent fare fixation committee (FFC) is “solely constituted by the Government of India through the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs”, he added.
His statements come a day after the Bengaluru Metro announced the second fare hike, fuelling anger among commuters and drawing sharp criticism from the opposition parties. The revision comes into effect on 9 February.
In a statement Thursday, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) said that the revision of fare after 7.5 years and optimisation of fare zones from 29 to 10 has resulted in an average increase of 51.55 percent.
“With a view to avoid such a situation of infrequent and steep fare increases in future, the committee has recommended in its report to revise the fare annually by having a transparent Annual Automatic Fare Revision Formula linked with O&M cost or 5 percent per annum whichever is lower by rounding off to the nearest rupee,” the BMRCL said.
The fare hikes have fuelled a war of words between the Congress party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the centre.
Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya has made many representations to BMRCL, including making a presentation to Metro officials in November, seeking a reduction in fares.
On Friday, he wrote on X again, taking a swipe at the CM in light of his latest remarks.
Public is tired of listening to your excuses, Mr CM. While you waited to “formally” take this up, Bengalureans were made to suffer a steep hike for nearly a year. You finally seem to have woken up after persistent public opposition, after a year of our consistent efforts to draw… pic.twitter.com/3GwGEpTrQ9
— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) February 6, 2026
“You finally seem to have woken up after persistent public opposition, after a year of our consistent efforts to draw your attention to this matter.”
Surya further wrote that Karnataka’s own urban development and finance departments’ letters to the BMRCL “show fare revision was perceived as ‘imperative’ to reduce the state government’s financial burden”. The FFC may be statutory, but the “inputs, intent and affordability stance” comes from the State, he added.
“The push for higher fares started from your side to ease fiscal pressure. So please don’t pretend the State is a helpless bystander,” wrote Surya.
Bengaluru already has the steepest fares for metro across India and Thursday’s hike makes it that much more expensive. For under 0-2 kms, the fare will be increased from Rs 10 to Rs 11 while the longest ride, 10-30 kms will go up from Rs 90 to Rs 95.
In November, before Thursday’s price hikes, Surya had pointed out that for a 20-25 km ride, the charge in Bengaluru metro is Rs 80 while it is just Rs 64 in Delhi (32 kms). Similarly, a 12-18 km ride in Bengaluru costs Rs 60 while it is half the price in Mumbai.
Also Read: Bengaluru Metro unlikely to revise high fares. But why is Namma Metro so expensive?
‘Hikes testament to fledgling finances’
According to the Metro, the ‘general principle’ is that metro costs are about 1.5 times that of an AC bus service.
But for those travelling longer distances, the bus option remains far more viable.
According to BMRCL, it costs Rs 70 by Metro for a distance of 15-20 km as against Rs 40 in an AC bus, Rs 28 in non-AC bus. For 20-25 km, the Metro fare is Rs 80 as against Rs 45 (AC bus) and Rs 30 (non-AC bus).
The allegation against the BMRCL is that it used the wrong base year when it calculated the fare hikes, ThePrint reported in November
To decide the hike, BMRCL used 2016-17 as its base year when 30.03 km was operational as against 42.3 km in 2017-18. Mobility experts said that this formula was inconsistent with established norms and practices across the country. The Bengaluru Metro accounts for a significant chunk of the city’s mass public transport infrastructure budget. But its highest single day ridership has been just one million in a city that has 14 million people. The metro has 96 km of operational lines in an 800 sq km-wide city.
Since the fare hikes were announced, there has been outrage over the daily Metro commute that is pinching pockets of ordinary citizens.
“This is very very wrong. Metro is a public utility used by a large number of people. It needs to have a low fare to make sure people use public transport and not 2W’s. Raising fares like this will only create more traffic congestion…,” Mohandas Pai, former Infosys CFO and co-founder of Aarin capital, posted on X.
He added that the hikes were a “wrong decision” since the Congress government, through its guarantees, was giving free bus transport for all women in Karnataka.
The Opposition and other sections of society have accused the Siddaramaiah government of doling out freebies worth over Rs 50,000 crore annually that forces the administration to tax others to mitigate the losses.
“So far, they have not made any intervention to address the financial hardship of metro travelers – plainly because the CM and DCM have no concern. I had earlier written to the CM and DCM, met the officials of BMRCL multiple times, pointed out the anomalies in the report, and even raised the issue in Parliament. Yet, the CM and DCM have chosen silence over accountability…,” BJP MP Surya said in a post Thursday.
R. Ashoka, the Leader of the Opposition, said that the fare hikes were a testament to the fledgling finances in Karnataka.
“The 51.55 percent hike in Namma Metro fares has nothing to do with the Union Government. It is a direct result of the @INCKarnataka government’s weak finances, poor fiscal discipline, and economic mismanagement….,” Ashok said Friday.
The BJP leader added that when governance fails and the treasury is mismanaged, citizens are forced to pay the price.
Siddaramaiah hit back, stating that the fare hikes were part of a larger pattern which includes hurting Karnataka through “reduced tax devolution, denial of fair grants, delays in infrastructure support” and now fare hikes, which weaken public transport and make daily life costlier for citizens.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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