Deputy Chief Minister and Transport Minister Laxman Savadi on Tuesday announced that there will no hike in fares for buses operated by Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), at least for the time being.
In February, the BMTC had approached the Karnataka government seeking an 18-20% hike in bus fares citing an increase in fuel cost, lack of funds to pay salaries, and losses on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to BMTC officials, fares were last revised in 2014.
The Minister said, “The BMTC had approached the Karnataka government seeking a fare hike citing financial difficulties. For the time being, we do not want to burden poor people who are already facing difficulties. The CM has taken a stand against revision of fares. Once the pandemic is under control and bus services are normalised, we will look into it.”
He added that the four road transport corporations (RTCs) have suffered a loss of over ₹4,000 crore on account of the pandemic.
Phased resumption of services
Once lockdown guidelines are relaxed, RTCs will resume services in a phased manner. Employees who have received both doses of COVID-19 vaccines will be assigned duty, said Mr. Savadi. He admitted that it could take months for RTCs to normalise their operations as the number of people using buses will be low in the initial months due to fear of using public transport.
In 2020, when bus services resumed in mid-May, it was only in November-December that the number of commuters started to pick up. By April 2021, however, following the second wave of COVID-19, people once again stopped travelling by bus.
