Tags:
Journalism of Courage
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March 22: Over 1.35 lakh commuters on Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) buses were in for a pleasant surprise recently when they found out that the price of tickets has been reduced by 50 paise. Though the decision to reduce the charge had been taken nearly four months ago, it was not implemented due to the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections. An NMMT spokesperson said that the decision was taken following strong protests from commuters on the hike in ticket prices.
The NMMT had hiked the prices by nearly one rupee in October last year to compensate the increase in the price of petrol and diesel. But the hike met with strong opposition from the public which demonstrated at various bus depots. The hike also rocked the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) with corporators raising the issue in the House.
At a meeting of the Transport Committee of NMMC, corporators expressed their concern over the effect of the hike on commuters which led to the decision being reviewed. Apparently, thehike led to the transport corporation losing a large number of commuters, especially for short routes, who preferred to take a shared autorickshaw which is quite common in the township.
However, the corporation has decided to increase the number of stages during each journey. The authorities claim that the decrease in prices will not hit the corporation financially. “It will only reduce the profit margin for us. We are certainly not going to run into losses because of the reduction,” remarked a spokesperson.
