Bengaluru: The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) is suffering from a loss of Rs 35 lakh due to missing tokens. As per the information revealed via Right to Information, from the starting day of the services to January 1, 2018 the BMRC has witnessed 1.78 lakh cases of stolen tokens causing a loss of Rs 35 lakh to the Company.
To recover the losses, the Metro authorities initially collected a penalty of Rs 50 which was later hiked to Rs 200 in case of loss of token during the journey. So far the authorities have collected Rs 8.62 lakh as penalty from 10,739 passengers who lost tokens during the their journey.
According to the BMRC officials, so far 1,67,320 tokens continue to remain missing. It means that the passengers took extra tokens with them.
Some passengers buy extra tokens. They use one token to get the entry and travel while taking the extra ones with them. Smart card users also purchase tokens.
Loss of tokens in last 6 months:
Period: June 1, 2017 – January 1, 2018
Loss of tokens: 75,096
Loss of amount: Rs. 15,01,920
BMRC bought 1.50 lakh tokens in 2017 at a rate of Rs 18.30 per token and spent a total of Rs. 27.45 lakh.
Metro officials say there has been a significant increase in the sale of travel smart cards since the beginning of the Metro services but majority of the commuters still prefer tokens.
