[sustran] Fw: First benefits of the MUTP to Mumbai

[kisan mehta]

Dear Colleagues,

The Mumbai Urban Transport Project approved by the World 
Bank in June 2002 has started showering benefits(?) on Mumbai residents.

Following the Bank insistence, the Government formed Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation a 50:50 joint venture company legally empowered to charge taxes and levies on commuters. Even before the rail services show signs of improvement, the fares have been increased.  This has reduced the number of commuters using suburban rail service (though revenues have increased due to 
the railways extracting higher amouint through steep fare rise).  

This would mean that the railway, the cheapest mode of traffic,  
is being snatched away from the poor. The Bank claims that the 
MUTP is mooted on the objective of reducing the poverty.  It 
only can explain as to how fare rise reduces poverty and 
hardship of the poor.  This is the first salvo  We do not know as
to where this would end.   Best wishes.

Priya Salvi and Kisan Mehta 


      Fare hike hits suburban train traffic 

     
      TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ FRIDAY, AUGUST 02, 2002  11:29:38 PM ] 
     
      MUMBAI: Passenger traffic on Mumbai suburban trains dropped 4.2 per cent on the Western Railway and 2.6 per cent on the Central Railway after the fare increase that came into effect in April.


      Western Railway's traffic fell to 24.60 crore passengers between April and June 2002 from 25.68 crore passengers in the corresponding period last year. Central Railway's traffic fell to 24.74 crore passengers from 25.40 crore passengers over the same period, railway officials said. Approximately 60 lakh passengers use the suburban network every day.


      Still, the drop in traffic has not cut into revenues. In fact, WR's and CR's earnings from ticket sales shot up in that quarter. The CR's revenue during the quarter ended June 2002 rose Rs 13 crore over the corresponding period last year to Rs 108.51 crores. The WR's revenues increase by approximately Rs 7 crore to around Rs 100 crore over the same period.


      But some of the decline in passenger traffic could simply be due to the method used to compute traffic. Rail traffic is calculated on the basis of ticket sales. The sale of a monthly season ticket is counted as 50 passengers, while the sale of a quarterly season ticket is counted as 150 passengers in the month of purchase. But it isn't counted in the next two months in which the quarterly ticket is used.


      Railway officials explain that the sale of quarterly season tickets increased considerably in March, especially in the last week, in anticipation of the fare increase.


      Many commuters who usually purchase monthly season tickets opted for quarterly season tickets,which they could buy at lower rates in March, a CR official said. This led to a 52 per cent rise in the sale of quarterly season tickets in March 2002 over the corresponding period the previous year.


      While the sale of season and card tickets dipped in April and May, sales picked up again in June and have already increased in the first ten days of July.


      However, railway officials say that some suburban commuters travelling short distances of up to 10 kms have switched to relatively cheaper modes of transport, like BEST buses. A minimum BEST ticket costs Rs 3, Rs 2 less than the minimum rail fare. Taxis and autorickshaws that operate on a shared basis are also believed to have lured away train passengers. For instance, commuters from Goregaon to Borivli are opting for alternatives, said WR's chief commercial manager. 

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