Kolkata: Proposal to raise bus rates by one rupee for each stage, which will make the minimum bus rates of Rs 8 for the first three kilometers, has been suspended by the Bengal government for now, a senior official said on Sunday.
The Bengal government was reluctant to burden the staggering person under a pandemic, the official added.
The Special Committee appointed by the Department of Transportation proposes new tariffs per stage – Rs 8 for 0-3km, Rs 10 for 3-7km, Rs 12 for 7-10km and Rs 15 for 10-15 km.
This committee was appointed by the Department of Transportation to prescribe ‘the most likely possible revised tariff’.
The government of Bengal said it was about a large number of a number of road tax neglect to the passenger carriage, roughly to Rs 30 crore per quarter, Rs 120 Crore in four quarters.
But relief, according to transportation operators, will not be enough to make their services worthy because the price of fuel has soared.
Relief was announced on the APBN last week.
“It will be a big help for us if diesel prices are controlled.
But the operating costs have surpassed our affordability, making a bus operation proposition making losses.
In this situation, we appeal to CM to revise the tariff, the only option to bring life back to This moribund public transportation system, “said Tapan Bandyopadhyay, Secretary, Board with Syndicate Bus.
In the past year, diesel prices rose by Rs 25 per liter, sent operating costs through the ceiling.
The last revision of the bus rates occurred in 2018.
However, transportation officers did not find expectations for the approval of the highest level.
Bus and tram rates are always a sensitive problem in the city.
They are the only modes of transportation for the city’s poor.
This is why there are situations that are almost riots when the tram costs are raised by one Paisa in 1953.
“But the state should not leave a personal bus transit system that is sick by denying the revision of the tariff.
If we don’t get a bus, we usually pay double or three Fold to travel with the same distance using auto or taxi.
Even if the cost is revised rationally, a passenger ends up paying less, “said Aniruudhha Sengupta, a transportation economist.