The Tamil Nadu Government has decided to hike the minimum bus fare in metros other than Chennai to Rs 3 from Rs 2, and the maximum to Rs 12 from Rs 7.
The minimum fare for long-distance mofussil buses has been increased to 42 paise/km from 28; for semi-deluxe it will be 56 paise from 32 paise. For super-deluxe and luxury Volvo buses, the fare has been increased to 60 paise from 52 and for ultra-deluxe, the Government has decided to increase it to 70 paise from the present 52.
Justifying the increase, the Tamil Nadu Minister, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, said that diesel price, which was Rs 18.26 a litre in 2001, today costs Rs 43.95. Further, the cost of tyre and tube, and wages to employees has increased significantly. Due to these factors, Government Transport Corporations incurred a loss of Rs 6,150 crore for the fiscal ended March 31, 2011.
The situation has worsened to the extent that the Government Transport Corporations could end up in bankruptcy. Every month the Government, in fact, has been paying Rs 60 crore as financial assistance for providing wages to employees. If action is not taken now, the Government may not be in a position to run the buses, she said in a statement.
The Policy Note on the State Transport Department for the year 2011-2012 said that the eight State Transport Undertakings with a fleet strength of 21,169 carried nearly 2.10 crore passengers every day. In Chennai metropolitan alone, nearly 55 lakh passengers travel in the Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses.
Fare structure
When compared to other southern states, the fare per km in Tamil Nadu was the lowest. The existing fare structure for mofussil services in Tamil Nadu with comparative figures of neighbouring States is given in the table.
The fare in Tamil Nadu has not been revised since December 2001 in the interest of the travelling public, though diesel cost and establishment costs have increased several times.
The oil companies periodically revise the price of petroleum products depending upon global market prices. High-speed diesel price has been increased 138 per cent since last the revision of bus fare in 2001. The State Transport Undertakings are incurring about 44 per cent of the total revenue towards diesel cost. The expenditure on consumption of diesel for the State Transport Undertakings was Rs 2,468 crore in 2010-11.
In addition to bus fares, the Tamil Nadu Government has also announced a steep increase in the price of milk supplied by Aavin. The price of toned milk will be revised to Rs 24 a litre from the current Rs 17.75. Correspondingly, the procurement price of milk paid to dairy farmers too has been raised from Rs 18 to Rs 20 a litre for cow's milk and Rs 26 to Rs 28 a litre for buffalo milk.