MMRDA copies Metro One, to brand stations for revenue

In a move to keep the fare amount for the upcoming Metro corridors in the city affordable and generate more revenue, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has decided that Metro stations on all the Metro corridors being constructed or proposed will be branded wherein private companies will have to pay a sum of money annually to have their brand name as prefix or suffix before the actual name of the Metro station.

A senior MMRDA official said, “We are working on a policy where non-ticketing revenue will be earned by branding every Metro station. We will approach private companies and big brands who will have to pay certain amount of money for having their brand’s name being printed and announced everywhere before the actual Metro station name.”

The MMRDA official added, “Not only branding of Metro stations is done internationally but it is also done for Delhi Metro by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL) in the case of Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro corridor. This helps us in making the Metro projects more financially viable.”

In the case of Mumbai Metro, the operator MMOPL had done branding of Western Express Highway Metro station wherein a media house had bought the rights for branding. Further, Andheri Metro station has been branded as Bank of Baroda Andheri Metro station followed by Ghatkopar Metro station as Vivo Ghatkopar Metro station.

“We are working on the policy and do not know how much revenue would be generated by this,” added the MMRDA official.