Fares for all TN buses to be increased after 6 years
Posted on: 20/Dec/2017 5:25:11 PM
It is gathered that the fares in the Tamil Nadu State transport corporation operated buses is likely to go up shortly.
As per the revision, the tickets for travelling ordinary buses is increased from 42 paise per km to 60 Paise per km.
As the fares in Tamil Nadu state bus travel is far lesser as compared to the other states, the state government has been incurring huge losses over the last few years.
Indeed, the bus fares in Tamil Nadu are lower by 40% as compared to those in the other major southern states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra/Telangana.
It was 6 years ago in 2011, when the TN state bus fares were revised. However, this increase did not compensate the huge losses incurred by the state transport corporations. The huge losses have been persistent over several years now.
In addition to the situation as explained, the bank loans taken by the state transport corporations have increased to Rs. 2400 Crores. The transport corporations have been made to pledge/mortgage some the depots to get these loans.
Further, pensions have to be paid to the employees who retire from their service – this amount has accrued to Rs. 1500 Crores as pending.
Questions have arisen hoe the loans will be repaid and the above payments paid.
It has now reached a situation where there is no other alternative except to increase the fare to meet the requirements above, including the payment of pensions, purchase of the new buses, and the maintenance of the existing ones. So, the bus fares in TN State are likely to go up shortly.
As informed the fare per km or for ordinary buses is up from 42 paise per km to 60 paise per km. In the express and deluxe buses, the fares are revised from 56 Paise per km to 73 Paise per km.
In super deluxe buses, the fares will be raised from 60 Paise per km to 75 Paise per km and the fares for ultra-deluxe buses up from 70 Paise per km to 95 Paise per km.
The fares for the air-conditioned buses are also to go up.
The present minimum fare in Chennai Metro city buses is Rs. 3. It has been decided to increase this to Rs. 5.
The fares for the white board, green board, and the deluxe buses will also be revised according to the respective distances. The maximum increase in fare may be Rs. 25.
The fares for the long distance buses will go up substantially. Presently, the fare for the Chennai-Madurai Express buses is Rs. 325. This will become Rs. 440. The increase is Rs. 115.
