Commuters have to cough up more

However, the increase for ordinary bus services will be limited to 5.12 per cent.
Following the hike, BMTC bus commuters have to cough up Re 1 more for travel on second, third, fourth, fifth, and seventh stages.

Travel from stages nine to 25 in BMTC buses will be costlier by Rs 2. There is, however, some relief as the fares for travel on stages one, six, and eight will remain unchanged. The hike will be enforced from Saturday midnight. 

The daily concessional bus passes will also cost more. A concessional bus pass that costs Rs 35 (with an ID card) till now will go up by Rs 5. Without an ID card, the pass will cost Rs 45, Rs 5 more than the existing fare. The hike will be applicable to all non-air-conditioned buses operated by BMTC. Thus, travel on ordinary, Pushpak, Janapriya Vahini, Suvarna, Big 10 services will be costlier.

BMTC has also increased the rates of its air-conditioned Vajra and Suvarna services. But the corporation insists that the hike will be “trivial”. The details are not available. The Vajra Gold concessional daily bus pass will cost Rs 90. Now, it costs Rs 85.

KSRTC burden

The government says KSRTC will have to incur a financial burden of Rs 78.84 crore per annum consequent upon the the increase in prices of diesel. Hence, the 6.95 per cent hike in bus fares.

The dearness allowance for its employees has also been increased. The overall increase on KSRTC’s operational cost will be Rs 129.84 crore per annum.

Step by step

* Re 1 hike on 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th stages of travel
* Rs 2 hike on travel on stages 9-25.
* The hike will be applicable on travel on all non-air-conditioned services: Ordinary, Pushpak, Janapriya Vahini, Suvarna and Big 10 buses.
* All concessional bus passes (with ID, without ID and Vajra Gold) will be
costlier by Rs 5.
* Fare for travel on stages one, six, and eight will remain unchanged.