The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) State committee has cleared the proposal for increasing bus fares.
The LDF State committee, which held an emergency meeting here on Tuesday, endorsed the proposal to raise the minimum fare in ordinary bus services from ₹7 to ₹8 and that in fast passenger services from ₹10 to ₹11. The panel also permitted the government to effect appropriate revision in the concessional fares applicable to students.
The State Cabinet is likely to take the formal decision to enhance the bus fares at its weekly meeting here on Wednesday. The matter had acquired urgency with the private bus operators’ federations threatening to launch an indefinite strike, one of them from Thursday, to press for the fare hike. The government had assured the bus operators that it would take a decision on their demand at the earliest.
The bus operators had sought a sharp increase in the minimum fare from ₹7 to ₹10. However, this was not acceptable to the LDF leadership, though the State-owned Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is also in the doldrums owing to higher operating costs, particularly on account of the sharp rise in diesel price. The minimum fares in city services would also stand revised once the new fares take effect.
The minimum fare in express buses would go up from ₹13 to ₹15, that in super deluxe semi sleeper buses from ₹20 to ₹22, that in luxury air-conditioned buses from ₹40 to ₹44 and in Volvo buses from ₹40 to ₹45.