A Delhi Metro ticket costs between ₹11 and ₹64, and which one you pay depends only on how far you travel — not on how many lines you change, or how long you sit on the train. That part is simple. What catches people out is that the map in the station is not one railway. It is four different operators, and three of them will sell you a separate ticket.
The distance slabs
DMRC bills in bands, not per kilometre. Cross a band boundary and the fare steps up; travel another eight kilometres inside the same band and it does not move at all. These are the current slabs, revised on 25 August 2025 — DMRC's first increase in eight years, at about 7%.
| Distance | Delhi Metro | Aqua Line (NMRC) |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 2 km | ₹11 | ₹10 |
| 2–5 km | ₹21 | ₹15 |
| 5–12 km | ₹32 | ₹20 |
| 12–21 km | ₹43 | ₹30 |
| 21–32 km | ₹54 | ₹40 |
| Over 32 km | ₹64 | ₹50 |
The steps are why two journeys that feel the same can cost different amounts. Rajiv Chowk to Anand Vihar is ₹32; Rajiv Chowk to Huda City Centre, more than three times the distance, is ₹54. Neither is unfair — they simply land in different bands.
What comes off the top
The slab is the token price. Two discounts come off it, and they stack:
- Smart card — 10% off every journey. This is the single best thing a regular traveller can do. A ₹64 long-haul token becomes ₹58.
- Off-peak — another 10% when you exit outside the morning and evening rushes on a weekday. Combined with the smart card, that ₹64 journey lands near ₹52.
There are also tourist cards — one day of unlimited travel, or three — which are worth it only if you are making four or more trips a day. For everyone else the smart card is the answer, and it pays for itself within a few journeys.
The planner quotes token fares. Every figure on this page and in the journey planner is the full single-journey price, before any discount. If you travel on a smart card, take 10% off whatever it shows.
Four operators, four tickets
This is the part no fare chart tells you. The 15 lines on the NCR map are run by three different companies under four fare tables:
- Delhi Metro (DMRC) — the colour lines, on the slab table above.
- Airport Express — DMRC-run, but its own premium table. New Delhi to IGI Airport is ₹60 for 18.0 km, where the ordinary metro slab would charge ₹43.
- Aqua Line (NMRC) — Noida to Greater Noida, a different corporation altogether. Its ticket does not work on DMRC gates and DMRC's does not work on its.
- Namo Bharat (NCRTC) — the Meerut corridor, priced in a different league: ₹200 from Sarai Kale Khan to Begumpul.
Cross between them and you pay each operator separately, on its own table, from its own first kilometre. Botanical Garden to Pari Chowk Greater Noida is the clearest example: ₹61 in total, but never as one ticket.
What real journeys cost
Every row below is planned by the same engine the site's journey planner uses, on the fastest-route setting. Times include an allowance for waiting and for the walk between platforms at an interchange.
| Journey | Fare | Time | Stops | Changes | Tickets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Delhi → Rajiv Chowk | ₹11 | 6 min | 1 | 0 | Delhi Metro |
| Rajiv Chowk → Anand Vihar | ₹32 | 28 min | 10 | 1 | Delhi Metro |
| Kashmere Gate → Botanical Garden | ₹43 | 44 min | 16 | 1 | Delhi Metro |
| Rajiv Chowk → Huda City Centre | ₹54 | 55 min | 21 | 0 | Delhi Metro |
| Kashmere Gate → Huda City Centre | ₹64 | 63 min | 25 | 0 | Delhi Metro |
| New Delhi → IGI Airport | ₹60 | 36 min | 4 | 0 | Airport Express |
| Botanical Garden → Pari Chowk Greater Noida | ₹61 | 61 min | 20 | 1 | Delhi Metro + Aqua Line |
| Sarai Kale Khan → Begumpul | ₹200 | 53 min | 13 | 0 | Namo Bharat |
Where the time actually goes
The network has 279 stations across 15 lines, with 27 interchanges. On a long trip the fare is settled the moment you tap in, but the time is decided almost entirely by how many times you change.
A change is rarely just a walk across a platform. Kashmere Gate and Rajiv Chowk both involve a real hike between levels, and then you wait again for the next train — so the planner budgets the walk and the wait separately from the ride.
The clearest case on the whole network is Dwarka Sector 21 to Noida Sector 62, where the two sensible routes take exactly the same time and differ in nothing else that flatters the quicker-looking one:
| Route | Fare | Time | Stops | Changes | Walking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fewest changes | ₹64 | 99 min | 48 | 0 | 0 min |
| Via the Airport Express | ₹104 | 99 min | 26 | 2 | 13 min |
Same 99 minutes. The second route saves you 22 stops and costs you ₹40 more, 2 changes and 13 minutes on your feet — because it dips onto the Airport Express, which bills separately from its own first kilometre. Sitting still on one train is both cheaper and, here, no slower.
That is the practical lesson: on the Delhi Metro, a longer route with fewer changes is very often the better journey. The fare will not punish you for it either — it is charged on distance, one extra stop rarely crosses a band, and staying on a single operator avoids starting a second fare from scratch.
Plan the journey you are actually making
Our Delhi NCR journey planner covers all 279 stations, including the Aqua Line and the Namo Bharat corridor. Pick any two and it gives you the route, the time, the number of changes, the walk between platforms, and the fare split by operator — so you know before you leave whether you are buying one ticket or three.