The Hindu : Bus fare hike likely from tomorrow

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 03, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Bus fare hike likely from tomorrow

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD FEB. 2. The proposed hike in the fares of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) is likely to come into effect from tomorrow midnight. After prolonged discussions with officials concerned of the corporation, the Chief Minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, is said to have cleared the file pertaining to the fare hike yesterday.

"Since the Chief Minister has already cleared the file, we are waiting for Government orders to be issued for hiking the fares. The orders are likely to be issued tomorrow following which the fare hike will come into effect,'' the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of the APSRTC, R.P. Singh, said.

When contacted on Sunday, Mr. Singh told The Hindu that on the expected lines, there would be a hike of 3 paise in the per kilometre fare for ordinary and express services while it would be 1 paise for the luxury services. The fares of Hi-tech services, however, had been left untouched.

In addition, the corporation had decided to introduce rupee round off fare structure to avoid frequent complaints from passengers that the conductors were not returning change after issuing tickets.

Accordingly, the minimum fare would be brought down from the existing Rs. 2.50 to Rs. 2 while the other tickets would be issued in rupee denominations, Mr. Singh added. Once the proposed hike in fares comes into force, the corporation would be in a position to bridge Rs. 140 crores out of the Rs. 154-crore burden on it on account of the diesel price hike.

The fare hike may ease the corporation from its financial crunch to some extent, but the employees are apprehensive that the hike would have an adverse impact on the occupancy ratio of the corporation.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

Stories in this Section

Bus fare hike likely from tomorrow

Singareni talks inconclusive

TDP to conduct polls to one lakh party panels from tomorrow