Bus fares in the State will go up by 6 to 15 paise per km for eight classes of stage carriers, both of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and private operators, from March 1.
The minimum fare for the ordinary and city service operated by the State-owned KSRTC and private bus operators will go up from ₹7 to ₹8. The minimum fare for fast passenger will go up from ₹10 to ₹11, and that of super fast service from ₹13 to ₹15.
For super express services operating in the State and outside, the minimum fare will go up from ₹20 to ₹22. The minimum fare for super deluxe and semi-sleeper services will go up by ₹28 to ₹30. In the case of hi-tech and air-conditioned luxury services, the minimum fare will go up from ₹40 to ₹44. The minimum fare of Volvo services has been increased from ₹40 to ₹45.
The Cabinet, which met here on Wednesday with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the chair, decided not to hike the minimum bus fare of students while accepting the recommendations of the Ramachandran committee that looked into fare revision, the increase in the price of high-speed diesel, tyre and parts, wages of the crew and the crisis being faced by the bus industry in the State.
However, the students will have to bear a 25% increase after the minimum fare. There will be no hike in the bus fare if such increase is below 50 paise. There will be an increase of ₹1 in the fare for the students.
The Cabinet rejected the recommendation of the committee to fix the age limit for students to obtain concessional fare in the services operated by the KSRTC and private operators.
Later, Transport Minister A. K. Saseendran told mediapersons that the hike in the price of high-speed diesel had badly hit the KSRTC and the private operators.
The government had mostly accepted the recommendations of the Ramachandran committee, he added. The Cabinet took up the long-pending demand after the LDF State committee, which held an emergency meeting on Tuesday, endorsed the proposal to enhance the bus fares as one of the private bus operators’ federations threatened to launch an indefinite strike.
The private bus operators have termed the fare hike as “inadequate” and are is meeting in Kochi on Thursday to chalk out the action plan. The fare was last hiked in the State on May 20, 2014.
