Bus ride in TN to cost less from April

CHENNAI, March 29: The new rates of bus fares in the State, reduced by 2 paise per km, would come into effect from April 1, Transport Minist...

CHENNAI, March 29: The new rates of bus fares in the State, reduced by 2 paise per km, would come into effect from April 1, Transport Minister K Ponmudi announced on Saturday. Briefing mediapersons at the Secretariat, he recalled Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s commitment to reduce the fare from 20 paise per km to 18 paise, while replying early this week to the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor for her address to the Assembly.

While the minimum charge on city routes remained the same at Re 1 as before, there would be a reduction of up to 50 paise in higher stages of fare. The maximum fare in metro routes would be Rs 4, and city Rs 3.50. In the plains, transport corporations would charge 18 paise per km on metro routes, 20 paise in semi-deluxe buses, 25 paise in super deluxe, and 45 paise in air-conditioned category.

On ghat road routes, metro charge would be 19 paise per km, semi-deluxe 25 paise and deluxe 30 paise. The minimum remained at Rs 1.25 on city routes while the maximum stood reducedto Rs 2.50.

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The difference in fare structure between the city and metro routes had been removed. The transport corporations, which were incurring a loss of around Rs 250 crore per year, would face additional financial burden of up to Rs 200 crore in the immediate context due to the fare reduction, the Minister said.

The reduced fares on ordinary mofussil routes from Chennai to Pondicherry would be Rs 30 (present fare Rs 33.25), Tiruchy Rs 58 (Rs 64.50), Madurai Rs 81 (Rs 90), Tirunelveli Rs 109 (Rs 121), Coimbatore Rs 92 (Rs 102), Tiruvananthapuram Rs 196 (Rs 218), and Bangalore Rs 95 (Rs 105).

When the bus fares were steeply hiked in the State last September, there was sharp reaction from the commuters as the charge per km went up from 14 paise to 22 paise. Sensing public anger, Karunanidhi sought to reduce the fare to 20 paise per km.

However, during the Lok Sabha elections, the bus fare hike was perceived as one of the reasons for the voters’ anti-incumbency mood. In his Assembly speech on March23, Karunanidhi indicated that the move to reduce bus fare to 18 paise per km aimed at pacifying the public on the issue of bus fare hike.