The number of commuters on Delhi Metro dropped to a four-year low after fares were revised twice in 2017, The Indian Express reported on Friday. An average 27.4 lakh passengers used the metro service every day in September 2017, but the transport system lost more than three lakh commuters a day in October after the fares were increased for the second time.

In November, 24.5 lakh people took the metro but only 22.97 lakh people used it in December. The numbers marginally improved since the start of the year, and in February 24.06 lakh people used the service.

“Metro’s ridership is generally low in the months of December and January every year because of the holiday season,” the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said in a statement. “The same trend could be observed this year also. However, despite the holiday season, January registered a better ridership than the preceding month.”

DMRC Managing Director Mangu Singh told the Hindustan Times that the number of commuters is an inaccurate measure of the transport system’s impact. “We must look at the fleet utilisation, which has increased despite the fare hike,” Singh reasoned. “Passengers are taking longer journeys and overall passengers travelling kilometres has increased.”

The four factors that determine which mode of transport a commuter opts for are affordability, accessibility, reliability and flexibility, said Ryan Christopher Sequeira, the deputy manager of transport planning for the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System. “Now the moment, you reduce any of the parameters, it is going to reduce the number of people opting for this,” Sequeira told the Hindustan Times. “The moment you increase the fare, you are going to see an impact on ridership.”

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose party had opposed the revision in fares, once again appealed to the Centre on Wednesday to reduce the fares. He made the appeal during the launch of a new metro route. However, Union minister Hardeep Puri clarified that fares would not be rolled back.