The ‘COVID special bus fares’ of ordinary and super-class buses in the State will come into effect in two days with the Cabinet giving the nod on Wednesday.
As educational institutions are remaining closed, fares for students have not been hiked as recommended by the M. Ramachandran Fare Revision Committee.
Ordinary buses
The minimum fare of ordinary buses has been retained at ₹8. The distance that can be travelled for the minimum fare has been reduced from 5 km to 2.5 km. For every subsequent km in the 16 fare stages of the ordinary buses, the fare will go up by 90 paise as proposed by the committee.
The Cabinet also hiked the fares for 12 super-class services like city fast, fast, super fast, super express, super deluxe, AC luxury, hi-tech, single axle, multi axle, low-floor AC and low-floor non-AC by 25%.
Transport Minister A.K. Saseendran said the fares had to be notified and formalities had to be completed by the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and private bus operators. The four-member committee, comprising transport expert T. Elangovan, finance expert N. Niyathi and State Transport Commissioner M.R. Ajith Kumar as member secretary, submitted the report on Thursday. It had recommended the hike taking into account the losses suffered by the KSRTC and private bus operators due to the physical-distancing norms and poor patronage following the pandemic, the hike in price of high-speed diesel and increase in tax and insurance for buses.
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