Earning sources beyond fares
The much-anticipated metro rail is scheduled to be inaugurated on 28 December with a promise to ease the unbearable sufferings of Dhaka commuters.
The train service will be available on the Uttara-Aragon route for now and it is expected to be available on the remaining portion – Agargaon to Motijheel – of MRT Line-6 by 2024.
According to the primary estimation of the authorities concerned, approximately Tk5 crore will be needed to run the train service for each day once it comes into full operation. The question is how metro rail will manage the big amount of expenses keeping train fares at affordable rates for mass people.
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Talking to The Business Standard, authorities said they plan to earn at least 30% of the expenses from non-fare revenues.
"Metro rail cannot be made profitable if we think we will completely depend on the fares. We can get as much as 70% of expenses from the passengers and for the rest we need other earning sources," said MAN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited – the metro rail authorities for operation and maintenance.
"We will have some other resources including commercial space at all the stations that will help us meet the deficiency," he told The Business Standard and added that it is the way for making metro rail services viable worldwide.
To this end, the Dhaka Mass Transit Company has prepared a draft policy to lease or rent commercial spaces under the metro rail jurisdiction, in which it identifies six earning sources beyond fares.
The most non-fare revenue is expected to come from makeshift or permanent establishments such as retail shops, food courts and ATM booths at the metro rail stations.
The authorities also have a plan for renting advertisement spaces; allowing shootings of dramas, movies and others; providing car parking facilities; permitting various organisations for short-term campaigns; and providing room for different exhibitions in the metro rail areas to earn extra money.
In 2012, the mass rapid transit (MRT) Line 6 project worth Tk22,000 crore was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council to develop the 20.1km long metro rail from Uttara to Motijheel.
The cost of the project rose to Tk33,472 crore after including another 1.16 km extension from Motijheel to Kamalapur.
The metro line will be able to transport nearly five lakh passengers a day or 16,000 per hour in any one direction.
Speeds up to 100km per hour will reduce the Uttara- Motijheel travel time to 40 minutes from the current 2.5 hours. A train will take 17 minutes to reach Agargaon from Uttara.
The service will be available between 5am in early morning and 1am at midnight every day, according to the authorities.
