Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 14: The Kerala Cabinet has decided to hike bus fares in the state. The minimum fares will be Rs 8 for ordinary buses from March 1, 2018. The fare at present is Rs 7. The minimum fare for fast passenger services will be Rs 11, up from Rs 10 whereas, it would be raised to Rs 15, Rs 22 and Rs 45 for Super Express, Super Deluxe and Volvo, respectively.
The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) State committee had cleared the proposal for increasing bus fares on Tuesday. The LDF State committee endorsed the proposal to raise the minimum fare in ordinary bus services and fast passenger services.
Notably, the government has not increased the concession fare applicable for students.
The government was hard-pressed to take a call on the matter urgently as the private bus owners threatened to go on strike. A hike in the bus fare by the owners was demanded in the view of increase in the fuel prices.
Earlier, the private bus operators had called off the indefinite strike scheduled from January 31. The development came after assurance from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan that the Cabinet would consider their demands and take a call on the Justice Ramachandran Commission recommendations.