Now, pay higher fares for travelling by private buses and maxi-cabs

 Travel by private buses and maxi-cabs will be a costly affair from April 1 with the government proposing a steep increase in the tax per seat on private carriage vehicles.

The State government, as announced in the Budget, plans to mop up an additional Rs 121 crore through the hike. Motor vehicle taxes have not been revised since 2010 and hence it is proposed to enhance it, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said.

Explaining the implications of the tax hike, Bengaluru Tourist and Taxi Operators Association president Radhakrishna Holla said the tax rates were steep and unexpected.

“This means we have to charge higher fares for passengers and tourists. We will have to pass on the tax to passengers. How else will we manage to pay? Bus fares will go up as operators have to generate resources to pay the higher tax.”

The tax on private stage carriage vehicles (route vehicles) from Rs 600 to Rs 900 per seat would result in higher tax payments quarterly. While the operators pay Rs 21,000 now, they will have to pay Rs 35,000 as tax from the new financial year. A 10-12 seater will now have to pay Rs 5,400 quarterly as tax, as against the present Rs 3,600. All this means costlier tickets, he said.

SRS Travels Managing Director K T Rajashekara said taxes would be passed on to customers. “The taxation, as of today, is in itself burdensome and unbearable. Any enhancement over and above the already existing heavy taxation cannot be entirely borne by the operators and a portion it has to be necessarily passed on to passengers thereby increasing the burden on the common man/traveller.”

Holla says: “At a time when we are being challenged by e-commerce taxi companies such as Ola, Uber, TaxiForSure and when fuel prices have gone up, the last thing we expected was a tax on our operations. The government could have been happy with the tax revenue it is getting from the high sales of vehicles in the State. Vehicle sales have been going up 20 per cent every year, which fetches the department a good revenue. The hike is unexpected and we may have to hike our hiring rates impacting passengers.”

The increase in taxes is different for different categories of vehicles and types of services, whether contract carriage or stage carriage. Ticket prices would go up depending on the category of vehicle a passenger is travelling by and the distance travelled.

The State government has set a target of Rs 5,160 crore revenue from the Transport Department for the year 2016-2017, up from Rs 4,800 crore in 2015-16. An additional Rs 360 crore is expected from the new budget and the revenue for 2016-17. The State government has outlined several tax proposals to mop up Rs 121 crore as part of the overall revenue for the new financial year. In terms of revenue generation, the government has relied on motor vehicle taxes.

New tax proposals

Tax on private stage carriage vehicles from Rs 600 to Rs 900 per seat.
Tax on private city service stage carriage from Rs 300 to Rs 450 per seat.
Tax on contract carriages from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 per seat.
Tax on All India Tourist Omni Buses from Rs 2,750 to Rs 3,500 per seat.
Tax on stage carriages operating on special permit from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 per seat.
Transport and non-transport electric vehicles have been exempted from payment of taxes.