17% hike in Aapli bus fare, auto fares too up from midnight

Nagpur: Public commute in Nagpur city is set to become dearer from the midnight of June 15. There will be a 17% hike in Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s Aapli bus fares and autorickshaw fare would be Rs18 for the first kilometre. So, commuters will have to pay revised fares from June 16 morning.
Regional Transport Authority (RTA) headed by chairperson and collector R Vimala on June 13 gave the nod to NMC’s proposal to revise the Aapli bus fares. NMC has cited the fare hike in MSRTC fares to justify the hike. NMC tabled the proposal before the RTA in its meeting on June 6. “The nod to revise fares was given on June 13,” Vimala told TOI.
NMC’s transport department proposal has said that fares were hiked due to unavoidable circumstances resulting out of rising prices of fuel and spare parts. The last hike was approved in 2019, when bus fare was increased by over 20%.
Now, the minimum fare for Aapli bus ride would now be Rs12. It is up from Rs10 for a 2km ride currently. For travel over 30km, the fare revision would pinch a bit more. The fare would increase by almost Rs10 to Rs12.
The fares for children too have been revised. Minimum fare for child travelling in Aapli bus would be Rs6, up from existing Rs5.
A senior NMC official told TOI that the civic body’s viability gap funding for city bus operations has increased due to frequent hike in fuel prices. Earlier it was Rs6 crore, but now it hovers between Rs7-8 crore per month, he explained.
Autorickshaw fares too go up
No autorickshaw in the city plies by metre, but the current approved fare for autorickshaw is Rs14 for the first km and Rs11 for each subsequent km. Even enforcement agencies like RTO and Nagpur city traffic police have failed to put in any effort to ensure autorickshaws across the city ply by meter.
However, after nearly nine years (2014), autorickshaws fares in the city are all set to be hiked. The minimum fare is going to be Rs18, the RTA meeting minutes say.
Sources said the RTO has proposed hike to Rs21 for first slab and Rs32 for second slab of 1.5km. However, RTA revised the proposal and now for first slab autorickshaws can charge Rs18 and for subsequent 1.5km they are allowed to collect Rs27. The RTA, however, gave 60-day time for calibration of meters. If the autorickshaws fail to calibrate the meters, the RTA has directed enforcement agencies to suspend permits of autorickshaws and levy fine of Rs50 (per day) and compounding fine of Rs2,000.
As per the revised fare, autorickshaws plying between midnight and 5am can charge additional 25% fare. Autorickshaw drivers are also allowed to levy Rs3 extra for passenger luggage measuring 60x40 cm size, the RTA minutes revealed.