Deputy Commissioner M.T. Reju said on Wednesday that the increase in the fares of private express, shuttle buses, and private city buses in the district would be finalised after consulting officers of neighbouring districts.
He was chairing a meeting held by various voluntary organisations, bus owners, and citizens on revision of fares of private buses here.
Mr. Reju said that the bus owners should take note of complaints by heads of various voluntary organisations regarding the errant behaviour of drivers and conductors of private buses and take action on them. President of Canara Bus Owners Association Rajavarma Ballal said that the association was seeking an increase in fares of private express and shuttle buses by 7 per cent. This was because there had been an increase in the prices of diesel and spare parts of the buses, he said.
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General secretary of Udupi Private City Bus Owners Association K. Suresh Nayak said that his association wanted an increase in fares of city buses by 8 per cent.
But the demand for the increase in fares met with stiff resistance from heads of various organisations. Convener of Udupi Consumers' Forum Damodar Aithal said that in every meeting called for the revision of private bus fares, the bus owners never gave their calculations for seeking an increase in bus fares to civic organisations. If these calculations were provided a couple of days in advance to the civic organisations, they too could study it. In January 2011, the bus operators had sought 10 per cent increase in fares for the buses, the forum had proposed a 5 per cent increase, but the district administration had then increased the fares by 8 per cent.