Tamil Nadu: Now, pay more to travel by bus than train
CHENNAI: From today, travelling by trains will be cheaper than buses. The State government on Friday announced a hike in bus fares across all segments of the eight public transport corporations it operates.
The government’s statement announcing the fare hike highlighted how in Tamil Nadu the bus fares are still cheaper, compared to neighbouring states. As first reported by TNIE, the government cited the bleeding transport corporations to justify the hike.
The revised fares, which come into effect from Saturday, will burn a hole in the pockets of commuters. Long distance passengers have to shell out Rs 100 to Rs 200 more when travelling distances of over 200 km in Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation and State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) buses.
For ordinary mofussil buses, the fares have been hiked from 42 paise to 60 paise a kilometer. For ‘Express’ and ‘Deluxe’ buses, the fares have been raised from 56 paise to 80 paise per kilometer. The fares for ‘Super Deluxe’ buses have gone up from 60 paise to 90 paise per km, while for ‘Ultra Deluxe’ buses, the new fare is 110 paise, or over 50 per cent from the earlier 70 paise per km.
For example, a ticket in the SETC from Chennai to Tirunelveli would cost Rs 590 and Rs 720 in ‘Deluxe’ and ‘Ultra Deluxe’ buses respectively. The fares were Rs 330 and Rs 380. A second sleeper train ticket between the cities costs only Rs 385.
The last time the ticket fare was hiked was in November 2011. In a statement, the State government said to handle the liabilities of transport corporations accumulated up to Rs 22,048 crore and as per High Court orders, the bus fares increased.
The government also increased the minimum ticket fares of all the buses. The minimum ticket fares in Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) to increased to Rs 5 from Rs 3 for ordinary buses and maximum fares increased to Rs 23 a ticket.
The starting ticket prices of an ordinary town buses has been increased to Rs 6 from Rs 5, while For ‘Express’ buses minimum fare (upto 30 km) to be at Rs 24 as against the earlier price of Rs 17.
Similarly, the lowest fare in nonstop deluxe buses went to Rs 27 from Rs 18, while the minimum fares of ultra deluxe buses charged at Rs 33, as against Rs 21 of current fare.
