Innovative Non-Fare Box revenue Streams for Indian Metro Rail Systems

India is rapidly moving towards an ambitious target of expanding the scale of the metro network in many cities, but at present, the metro systems in the country are struggling financially to meet its capital and operational costs. Fare revenue does not completely cover the cost of providing high-quality transport services, recovery of high investment, and maintenance costs. Therefore, it is important to identify and implement various measures to generate non-fare revenue (NFR) to cover the present shortfall and enhance the earnings for future networks.

In this context, a guidebook on “Innovative non-fare box revenue streams for Indian metro rail systems” has been prepared by Center of Excellence in Urban Transport (CoE-UT), CEPT Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) for Indian Metro Rail Organizations' Society (I-Metro). This guidebook is based on secondary research carried out on metro systems across the world. Detailed case studies were carried out across two metro systems in India– Delhi and Nagpur; and interviews were conducted to explore the typical issues faced in implementing streams of non-fare box revenue that can support in formulating recommendations for metro organizations.