Travelling in Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) buses will become costlier from September 5 onwards.
The bus fares for both non-AC and AC buses have been divided into three slabs. Now, in the case of non-AC buses, Rs 5 will be charged for first 3 km, Rs 10 for 3 km to 10 km and Rs 15 for more than 10 km. Similarly, for AC buses, the passengers will have to pay Rs 15 for the first 3 km, Rs 20 for 3 km to 10 km and Rs 25 for more than 10 km.
Currently, the commuters have to shell out Rs 5 for 5 km and Rs 10 for more than 5 km for non-AC buses and Rs 10 for up to 5 km and Rs 15 for more than 5 km for travelling in AC buses A senior official of the UT Administration said that with the hike in the bus fares, the Department targets to earn an additional income of over Rs 1 crore per month.
He said that in order to have integrated transport service in Tri-city ie Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula, Mansa Devi, Mullanpur and Saketri passes to the general public as well as other categories on “Anytime Anywhere Basis” will be issued from now onwards.
This facility will be applicable to all the pass holders for the tri-city. As large number of public in general and students in particular from surrounding towns visits the City Beautiful, this will prove a great help to them. A barrier free transportation system in the tri-city will help the commuters and also reduce the traffic congestion on the city roads as more people will avail the facility of new passes to commute in the tri-city, he said. For the general public, the cost of the monthly pass has been kept at Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 per month respectively for tricity.
For employees, the monthly bus pass for non-AC and AC bus will now cost Rs 250 and Rs 1,000 respectively. For senior citizens, Rs 250 per month for non AC and Rs 1,000 per month for AC buses for tricity.
It was recently decided that the tri-city region need to have an integrated public transport system and the states of Haryana and Punjab were requested to exempt passenger tax on CTU buses running in tri-city on reciprocal basis, or at least charge it in lump sum amount.
Now, anyone can get the general pass irrespective of his/her being a resident of tri-city. However concessional passes like student pass can be availed only by the students studying in the tri-city region, said he.