Mumbai Metro to explore non-fare sources such as advertising, land monetisation for revenue

At a time when metros across the country are facing losses owing to the lockdown, the Maha Mumbai Metro Operation Corporation Limited is exploring at non-fare revenue sources for the Metro 2A and Metro-7 corridors, expected to be operational by May 2021. The documents released by the MMMOCL states, “Public transport projects like metro are capital and maintenance intensive, hence will not be financially sustainable only depending on fare box revenues. The Metro Rail Policy adopted by the government of India stipulates the exploitation of various alternate revenue sources and opportunities such as advertising, commercial utilisation of land around metro station premises, transit-oriented developments, value-captured tax/financing, digital marketing etc.” DK Sharma, managing director, MMMOCL said, “We are expecting some out of the box ideas to maximise our revenue sources. As per a recent study conducted by a consultant appointed by the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation, metros across India are facing losses owing to various reasons, including sub-optimal monetisation of non-fare revenue options such as commercial space leasing, Sudeept Maiti, senior manager from the World Resources Institute said, “Non-fare revenue becomes crucial for any metro, which is a very high-investment project.