Government increases bus fares

Thiruvananthapuram: The government has decided to hike the bus fare in the state until further notice during the Covid-19 crisis, on the basis of an interim report by Justice M Ramachandran commission.
Transport minister A K Saseendran said that the government has not decided to hike the minimum charge, which will remain at Rs 8. However, the maximum distance up to which one can travel using minimum fare has been reduced from the existing 5km to 2.5km. The charges have been increased from 70paise/km to 90paise/km.
These changes will be applicable to ordinary services of Kerala state road transport corporation’s buses too. The government also decided to increase the fare in the super class category of KSRTC buses including fast, city fast and super-fast buses by 25% for minimum charge and charge per km. The minister said that since there is no much travel for students during Covid times, the concession rates for them will not change. The commission had recommended an increase in the student concession fare as well.
The commission’s report was considered by the cabinet on Wednesday. The new fares will come into effect once notification is issued.
Meanwhile, BJP state president K Surendran said that the state government is helping bus owners by increasing the bus fare when the Centre has decided to extend free ration to the poor for five more months. The LDF government has once again backstabbed the public during a crisis, after water and power tariff hike, he said.
Meanwhile, all Kerala bus operators’ forum general secretary Johnson Payyappilli said that the bus fare hike is grossly insufficient and this would only help KSRTC and not private bus operators. He said that private buses plying in short routes will not get any benefit from the fare hike.