more-in The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought responses from the city government and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Congress leader Ajay Maken’s plea opposing rise in Metro fares and seeking that ticket prices be subsidised. A Bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V.K. Rao asked the authorities to indicate their stand on the plea, which has alleged that first rise in fares in May last year led to a decrease in ridership by around three lakh commuters. Additional buses The court also sought the Delhi government’s response regarding construction of multilevel parking for additional buses that the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) intends to procure. The Congress leader’s counsel told the court that with the second hike in fares last October, the Delhi Metro became the second costliest Metro service in the world, which has defeated its purpose. Mr. Maken has claimed in his application that with the last hike in fares, the Delhi Metro earned an average of ?7.5 extra from each passenger and that with an annual ridership of 100.79 crore, its annual revenue would come to over ?55 crore. He said if the Delhi government subsidised the amount, it would make the Metro more affordable and reduce traffic on city roads as well as air pollution levels here. The minimum and maximum Metro fares in 2009 were ?8 and ?30, but last year they were hiked to ?10 and ?60 respectively. On the issue of procuring standard floor buses, the Delhi government told the Bench that since the Supreme Court had allowed it to procure 500 SFBs, the High Court may consider allowing it to procure the remaining 500. The High Court Bench, however, refrained from issuing any such direction without first going through the government’s plans on how it intends to make the SFBs as well as roads and bus stops in the city accessible to the differently abled. It directed that an affidavit be filed indicating the government’s plan and listed the matter for further hearing on September 27.

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