Come August 1 and riding on private buses in the Steel City popularly known as mini bus will cost more for the passengers. More than 120 private mini buses playing on different routes have decided to hike the fare in view of the rising prices of fuel. The decision on hike of bus fare was taken on Monday morning by the Shikshit Berozgar Mini Bus Association (SBMBA), the apex body of the private bus operators. A delegation of the bus operators has also gone to Ranchi to meet the Additional Chief Secretary Sajal Chakraborty about their decision due to the fuel hike.
Sanjay Pandey, General Secretary of SBMBA said that the bus operators have decided to hike the fare considering the steep hike in diesel prices in the last two years.
“let me inform you that we had not raised the fare for nearly 3 years (last fare hike of mini-buses was in 2011) and in the course of these years the diesel prices have increased by more than Rs 14 per litre. We had no option but to raise the hike by 25 per cent from August 1 for every stoppage,” said Pandey. After the hike, passengers will have to shell out for Rs 5 (instead of existing Rs 4) for Sakchi to Bistupur while a ride from Sakchi to Jugsalai will cost Rs 6 (instead of existing Rs 5) and ride from Sakchi to Tatanagar Station will cost Rs 7 (instead of existing Rs 6).
The private fleet of 120 busses that run on 14 routes across the city, witnesses a daily footfall of more than 1.5 lakh commuters. Another official said: "We also operate buses by diesel. We operate for the destinations like Sakchi Bistupur, Mango but we had not increased the fare, but concern over the prevailing situation we have decided to go for a hike," he noted.
“Following the discussion among the bus owners and also the staff over the expense incurred for operating the bus services, we finally decided that the raise of 25 percent in the fare is a moderate hike. The new chart of bus fare will be issued by the association and the management of the various bus services will start selling tickets on the increased rate,” he added.