Report proposes hiking fares during peak hours and providing incentives to commuters during lean times

(This story originally appeared in on May 6, 2017)

A report submitted to the Railway Board and the state government has made some substantial recommendations to help ease peak hour over-crowding. The report compiled by RITES India Ltd , a railway consultancy company, has suggested a pricing structure very similar to airlines. It suggests differential pricing with a surcharge on commuters travelling during peak hours and discounts as rewards for those travelling during off-peak hours.The report proposes these measures could lead to 5 to 7 per cent reduction in peak hour congestion.

Accessed exclusively by Mumbai Mirror , the reports is a study undertaken by RITES experts with the specific objective of tackling overcrowding on Mumbai's suburban trains.

The report proposes that surcharges should be charged during peak hours from 8 am -11 am, and 5 pm 8 pm in critical sections which witness overcrowding. Similarly discounted fares should be offered to commuters during off-peak periods in non-critical sections.

The report also suggested that suburban rail corridors to be divided into various sections depending upon the current level of overcrowding and the congestion surcharge could be decided accordingly.

The report also has recommended that incentives should be offered to commuters for adopting staggering work hours. The government could support and provide incentives like lower electricity tariff, reduced municipal taxes, tax rebates, discounted hospital insurance government service rates, Sodexo coupons, redeemable credit points etc. to the organizations and employees adopting the staggered timings. The report also recommended that the system should be suitably upgraded. Ashok Datar , transportation expert, said "It's a very good suggestion, but implementation part of this suggestion is difficult in the current ticketing system. It needs lots of change in the ticketing systems."

When Mirror contacted DK Sharma, general manager, Central Railways, said "It's a very good idea which is worth exploring.Implementation of proposed measures will not only reduce overcrowding during peak hours, but will also result in optimal utilization of capacity, improved load factor and make travel more comfortable."

CP Sharma, former Chief Commercial Manager of Western Railway, said "It's very difficult to implement this idea. I think it's time to transform Mumbai's entire transport system, which will be possible only after constructing big projects like the Elevated Corridors, Coastal Road etc."

