Bus fares hiked on all inter-city routes

Ludhiana: In bad news for road commuters, the Punjab transport department has hiked the fares of ordinary as well air-conditioned inter-city buses of all government and private buses passing through the city from August 21. The fares have been increased after a gap of six-and-a-half months, and now the travelling cost is Rs1.14 per km.
The fare was previously hiked in February by 5 paise per km from Rs1.05 to Rs1.10 per km.Now, the government has again increased the fare for different categories of buses. Now, the fare of ordinary buses will be Rs1.14 per km per person. After the hike in rates, a passenger travelling by ordinary HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning) buses will be charged Rs1.36 per km, since their fare is 20% more than that of ordinary buses.
With the fare increase, passengers travelling by integral coaches will have to pay Rs2.05 per km, as its fare is double that of ordinary buses. Besides, road commuters travelling in super integral coaches of inter-city buses will have to shell out a large amount of money (Rs2.28 per km) as its fares touches three times the amount of ordinary buses.
Ludhiana bus stand general manager Rajeshwar Singh Grewal said: “After the notification of the decision to hike the fare of inter-city buses passing through the city station, local authorities have opted for recent fare charges with immediate action, and now the new rates of bus tickets have been notified in all notice boards of the city bus stand, so that passengers do not face difficulties while managing their travelling expenses.”
Source in the bus stand said: “The recent decision to increase bus fares might irk some passengers, but it will certainly bring some respite to Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC), which is reeling under a severe financial crisis. Moreover, this action will put more burden on road commuters who feel the state government, rather than trying to control the increasing prices of oil, was increasing the fares of bus tickets after six months.”
Road commuter Jaswinder Singh said: “The decision was quite shocking, because the hike in bus tickets has happened for the second time in the past six months, which puts more burden on regular passengers. The new Congress government had failed to bring any drastic change at the grassroot level in Punjab, as people were struggling with the same issue of hike in prices which had happened when the Akali government was in power.”
Shamsher Singh, member of the Punjab Roadways Bus Union, said the hike was effected to benefit the private sector, and would put an undue burden on the common man.
NEW RATES
For Delhi: Now, passenger of ordinary buses have to pay Rs330 for bus ticket heading towards the national capital against Rs325 earlier. For AC buses, the earlier fare was Rs520, now it is Rs530, while for integral coaches, the earlier fare was Rs730, now it is Rs745.
For Chandigarh: Passengers of ordinary buses heading towards Chandigarh have to pay Rs120 against Rs115 earlier, while for AC buses, they have to pay Rs155 now against the earlier Rs150. For integral coaches, the fare now is Rs250, against the Rs240 earlier.
For Amritsar: For ordinary buses to Amritsar, the new fare is Rs180, against the earlier Rs175. No government AC or integral coaches run to Amritsar.