KOCHI: As the Kochi Metro is set to celebrate its first anniversary on June 17, the Kochi Metro Rail Limited authorities claim substantial increase in ridership and revenue from both ticket and non-ticket segments. According to Kochi Metro Rail Limited managing director Muhammad Hanish, the average monthly loss of Metro has been reduced by half in a year. “Initially, the gap between income and expenditure was Rs 6 crore per month which has been reduced to Rs 3.60 crore now. There has been increase in both ticket and non-ticket revenue collection. The daily loss of 20 lakh could be brought down to Rs 12 lakh,” he said while addressing the media here on Tuesday.
There has been significant increase in the number of passengers. When the Metro service commenced, the average daily ridership was 20,000 to 25,000 while the number has increased to 35,000 to 40,000. During holidays and weekends, the number will be in the range of 55,000 to 60,000, added the KMRL chief. The KMRL expects daily ridership of 60,000 to 65,000 by June next year when the service will be extended to Thykoodam from Maharajas.
“KMRL is in the process of bringing down the difference between expenditure and the revenue by adding non-fare box revenues. Currently, the non-ticketing revenue is around Rs 12 lakhs per day,” he added. Steps are afoot to introduce the monthly and daily trip pass which are expected to attract more passengers. The fare discount and other features of the trip card are yet to be finalised.
The major non-ticket revenue sources include semi-naming of (a kind of co-branding) Metro stations, leasing commercial space at stations, leasing open space near parking lots at Metro stations and providing optical fibre cables passing along the Metro viaduct to private telecom companies. As many as five banks have already signed agreement with KMRL to open branches in Metro stations. KMRL chief added that the Metro agency has received encouraging response from business enterprises for the tenders for leasing commercial space.
