Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy on Wednesday said that there are no plans at the moment to increase airport bus fares due to the increase in toll from Rs 30 to Rs 75 for a one-way trip.
Speaking to reporters here, he said that BMTC would have to pay Rs 3.33 crore per year towards toll for a total of 732 trips in a day. KSRTC would have to pay an additional 2.97 crore per year.
“We will not hike fares for now as the people are already protesting against the normal bus fare hike,” Reddy said.
He said that BMTC and KSRTC are looking to increase efficiency by cutting down the frequency of long haul routes to decrease losses.
“We will not cancel buses. But we will increase the duration. Already 150 schedules have been stopped,” he said. KSRTC is expected to need at least Rs 207 crore for operating expenses in 2014-15 to deal with the diesel price hike and payment of dearness allowance (DA) to its staff. Estimates peg the revenue at Rs 3,329.19 crore with a cost of Rs 3,364.11 crore. The recent fare hike of 7.8 per cent will help recover around Rs 123.87 crore and fine-tuning of efficiency is expected to net another Rs 83.95 crore”, Reddy explained.
Reddy rubbishes ex-minister Ashok’s Charges
Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy rubbished allegations made by former Transport Minister R Ashok against the transport agencies.
Ashok had accused BMTC and KSRTC of falsifying accounts to show losses to increase bus fares.
“These companies, including the NWKRTC and NEKRTC, were already under loss. Only KSRTC earning profits. profit. But increasing staff costs and price of diesel have now resulted in a loss for it too,” he said and alleged that Ashok is just trying to mislead people.
“He was also a minister. He must think before making such allegations,” Reddy said.
He also expressed his inability to reign in the private bus mafia in the city and said that permits once issued could not be cancelled by him.
He also said that the Transport Department does not have the staff to check and seize buses as recruitment for more than 200 posts has been stalled for three years due to some court cases.