Over ten days after the last revision, the State Government on Thursday once again increased bus fares across all categories under the automatic fare adjustment mechanism. As per a notification issued by the Commerce and Transport Department, the fare for ordinary and express buses has been increased by 1 paisa per km and that for deluxe and AC deluxe category buses has been increased by 2 paise per km.
With this, the fare for ordinary buses will now be 60 paise against 59 paise per km and that of express buses has been hiked to 63 paise from 62 paise.
Similarly, deluxe category buses will now charge 84 paise per km against 82 paise earlier and passengers travelling in AC deluxe buses will have to pay Rs 1.05 instead of the existing Rs 1.03 paise.
Notably, the Government has hiked the bus fares for the fifth time this year in a span of five months. Earlier, the fares were increased on March 10, March 19, May 3 and May 23.
The Government had announced implementation of an automatic mechanism for revision of fares on June 4 last year as per the demand of the All Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association (AOPBOA).
Under this system, rise and fall in bus fares are determined on the rise and fall of fuel prices.