Cabinet approves bus fare hike, minimum charge at Rs 8

Thiruvananthapuram: The Cabinet that met here on Wednesday formally decided to hike bus fares in the State, with the minimum fare in ordinary bus services to be hiked from Rs 7 to Rs 8.

On Tuesday, the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) State committee had cleared the proposal for increasing bus fares. The LDF State committee, which held an emergency meeting here on Tuesday, endorsed the proposal to raise the minimum fare in ordinary bus services and fast passenger services.

According to the latest development, fast passenger tickets would cost at least Rs 11 and the minimum fare for Super Express would be raised to Rs 15. Similarly, the minimum fare for Super Deluxe would be Rs 22 and for a Volvo, Rs 45.

However, the government has not increased the concession fare applicable for students, which was a major demand by the private bus operators.

With private bus owners threatening to go on strike, the government was hard-pressed to take a call urgently. The bus owners had demanded a hike in bus fares in view of the fuel price hike. They also demanded lifting of bans imposed on certain routes.

The private bus operators had called off the indefinite strike scheduled from January 31 after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan assured that the Cabinet would consider their demands and take a call on the Justice Ramachandran Commission recommendations.