Karnataka minister counters PM Modi, says metro ridership is up 30% despite free bus travel scheme for women

“Our metro ridership has surged by 30 per cent in the last year. In January 2023, we recorded 1.65 crore passengers with a revenue of Rs 39.15 crore. By April 2024, passenger numbers increased to 2 crore, with revenue rising to Rs 51.71 crore,” the minister said.

This represents an increase of 35 lakh passengers per month and an additional Rs 1.10 crore in monthly revenue compared to 2023.

Reddy said the figures demonstrated that the Shakti scheme, which was among the ruling Congress’s Assembly poll guarantees, has not affected the metro’s revenue. “Instead, there has been a substantial increase in both ridership and revenue,” he noted.

Reddy accused the prime minister of attempting to mislead the public. “Modi is trying to create the misconception that only BJP-initiated schemes are beneficial, but the people know the truth,” the minister said.

Modi triggered a debate when, in an interview last week, he talked about the possible decline in patronage for metro services in cities in view of schemes offering women free bus rides.

“You build a metro in a city and then to win elections in the same city, you promise free bus rides to women. This means you are taking away 50 per cent of your metro passengers,” the prime minister said in a veiled reference to Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s free bus ride scheme, which has reportedly forced L&T to do a rethink on Hyderabad Metro.

L&T has said it is looking at selling off Hyderabad Metro after 2026 because of low ridership, adding that the Telangana government’s free bus ride scheme has made metro ridership “less interesting”.

Many mobility activists and senior Karnataka bureaucrats have disagreed with L&T’s move stating that there is no scientific report to prove that free bus rides have led to a decrease in metro patronage.