The ancillary works related to Metro Line 7 (Dahisar East to Andheri East) and Line 2A (Dahisar to DN Nagar) have been initiated by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). After completing the metro civil work, MMRDA is now looking for consultant service to prepare a report on the non-fare box revenue for both these lines. Non-fare box revenue is made by selling advertisements rights and other ways and does not include revenue generated through ticketing.
According to the MMRDA, the consultants will help in preparing a detailed project report on how to enhance the non-fare box revenue and thereafter tenders will be invited from the interested parties.
On a similar line, reportedly MMRDA had made a policy on providing direct access to metro stations’ concourse areas (non-ticketing area) from nearby residential and commercial centres. Interested developers were called to construct such foot over bridges (FOBs). The idea is not just to provide a safe travelling experience to metro commuters when they leave the metro station but also to strengthen its non-fare box revenue as developers’ property value will increase due to metro connectivity and MMRDA will also earn revenue through it.
Both the metro lines commercial operations were expected to commence by 2020 year end but have now been delayed because of the pandemic. Recently, Sonia Sethi, additional metropolitan commissioner visited the Metro Line 2A site and took stock of the work. The trial runs of line 2A scheduled for January 2021.