The bus fare hike by North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) and the Hubballi-Dharwad Bus Rapid Transit System (HD-BRTS) would not affect student and other concessional pass holders but there would be a hike in the prices of the general monthly passes, NWKRTC and HD-BRTS managing director P. Rajendra Cholan has said.

Speaking to presspersons on the sidelines of a function here on Sunday, Mr. Cholan said that excluding GST, the government has effectively allowed HD-BRTS to increase bus fare by an average 17 %.

While the State government has allowed the four transport corporations to increase their bus fares by 12 %, the HD-BRTS had increased the fare roughly by 23 %, including 5 % GST, which will go to the State government.

Mr. Cholan said that stage-wise the HD-BRTS has increased fare by 17 % to 23 %. In other words, the HD-BRTS has increased the fare by ₹ 1.38 per km, where as, actually, it would get only ₹ 1.16 per km for the AC bus service provided. However, the State government has allowed BMTC to increase its AC bus service fare by ₹ 3.48 per km.

Passengers, since February 25, have been paying ₹ 28 (old fare ₹ 24) to use the services between Hubballi and Dharwad.

The hike in bus fares that has come into effect after six years, will help the transport corporation to better its balance sheet that was severely affected due to a steep rise in fuel price and increase in payment of salaries.

The fare hike has helped in increasing HD-BRTS revenue collection.

On the day after the State government approved fare hike, the HD-BRTS collected ₹ 5 lakh.

He also said that people have accepted the service provided by the HD-BRTS and the fare hike would not give any advantage to Bendre Transportation Service which is operating local city services, he said.