Chennai: Under pressure from the public and the opposition, the Tamil Nadu government reduced the bus fares in selected services. According to an announcement made by the transport department, the fare revision would come into effect from Monday morning.
The city's Metropolitan Transportation Corporation (MTC) fares have been reduced by 20 per cent. The minimum fare has come down from Rs 5 to Rs 4 and the fare between each stage is also slashed by a rupee. Currently, the maximum and minimum fares stand at Rs 4 and Rs 22 respectively. Similar change is also applicable for town services where the fares now range between Rs 4 and Rs 18.
For mofussil buses, the fare revision has been made (maximum 9 per cent reduction) according to different categories of the buses including ordinary, express, deluxe, super deluxe and air-conditioned.
According to the new fares announced by the transport department on Sunday, the slab per kilometer is reduced from 60 paise to 58 paise for ordinary buses, 80 paise to 75 paise for express, 90 paise to 85 paise for deluxe, 110 paise to 100 paise for super deluxe and 140 paise to 130 paise for air-conditioned buses.
In the official press release, the transport department mentioned that they have been incurring a loss of Rs 2 crore per day after the fare hike and this revision would mean they would incur losses of Rs 4 crore per day.
With government transport corporations struggling to overcome losses and finding it difficult to pay even the dues to its employees, Tamil Nadu Government on January 19 announced a steep hike in government and private bus fares ranging from 20 per cent to 55 per cent. The reason for the increase in fares was attributed to hike in fuel charges, maintenance cost and operational cost among others.
The move triggered protests from day one with the public taking to streets, shouting slogans and besieging transport offices. It also drew a lot of political flak from the opposition parties, who urged the state government to rollback the fare hike.
The slab per kilometer is reduced from 60 paise to 58 paise for ordinary buses, 80 paise to 75 paise for express, 90 paise to 85 paise for deluxe, 110 paise to 100 paise for super deluxe and 140 paise to 130 paise for air-conditioned buses
