Bengaluru: The bus fare in the city could go up by around 15 per cent owing to the steep hike in fuel prices, and a decision on this could be taken in a day or two, according to Transport Minister, D C Thammanna.
Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, he explained that the transport department had already incurred a loss of over Rs 186 crore owing to the rise in fuel price. “Ever since the government came to power, there has been a demand by officials to increase the bus fare, and now it looks inevitable,” he added.
While the government plans to reduce the non-peak hour buses in the city as well as long distance buses that are running empty, it has decided to buy 50 more luxury buses and run them during the festival seasons when private bus operators increase their bus fares steeply.
The Minister revealed that although private operators had come forward to operate electric buses in the city under a Central scheme, the government had decided to opt for it instead. “The Centre has decided to supply 80 electric buses to us at 75 per cent subsidy. But if they are run by private operators, not only will they have to be paid the subsidy but also another Rs 35 per kilometer as operational charges. So instead, the BMTC has decided to operate these buses,” he said.
Also, in future, private buses arriving from out of the city may have to park only at satellite bus stops instead of around the Majestic area, as they currently do, holding up traffic, especially in peak hours.
The Minister said the private long distance buses would be asked to pick up and drop passengers at the satellite bus stops to stop them from adding to the traffic congestion in the city. He , however, explained that this would not apply to private operators, who had their own bus stops.
