THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Private bus owners have announced that they would go ahead with their indefinite strike from March 24 over the delay in announcing the fare hike. A section of private operators served a strike notice to Transport Minister Antony Raju. The strike call is also over the lack of budgetary support for the sector.
Though the government had agreed in principle to raise the minimum fare four months ago, it has not taken any decision so far. The main objection seems to be the lack of consensus on increasing student concession.
The private operators have demanded that the minimum fare be hiked to Rs 12, per kilometre rate to Rs 1.10 and the student concession to Rs 6. The Justice M Ramachandran Commission, a single-member commission tasked to find ways to address the problems in the sector, also recommended the concession rate to be fixed at Rs 5.
The private bus operators wanted the student concession rates to be increased because they think raising the general bus fare beyond a limit would further alienate passengers. They complained that people have already switched to alternative arrangements for traveling during the Covid lockdown period.