Karnataka bus-fare panel to submit recommendations within days
A committee reviewing a proposed fare increase for Karnataka’s state-owned bus corporations is expected to submit its report within days, Transport Minister Byrathi Suresh said. The report will go to the Cabinet before any decision, while the government plans to procure 4,500 electric buses for Bengaluru’s BMTC.
A committee examining a proposed increase in bus fares for Karnataka’s state-owned transport corporations is expected to submit its report to the government within days, Transport Minister Byrathi Suresh said on Wednesday. The panel is headed by retired Indian Administrative Service officer Atul Kumar Tiwari. Suresh said it had studied the financial condition of all the State transport corporations and would soon submit its recommendations.
The report will be placed before the Cabinet for discussion. A decision on fare revision will then be taken with the approval of Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, the minister told reporters after a joint review meeting of the Home and Transport departments at Vikas Soudha.
Suresh said higher diesel prices had contributed to severe financial pressure on the transport corporations. He attributed the increase to decisions by the BJP-led Union government, claiming that diesel prices had risen four times in the past year. According to the minister, the rise amounted to between ₹15 and ₹16 per litre and had caused an annual loss of about ₹8,000 crore to Karnataka’s State transport corporations.
Those figures and the attribution were presented by Suresh; the source material included no response from the Union government. The proposed fare increase has not yet been approved. Any revision will depend on the committee’s recommendations, Cabinet consideration and the Chief Minister’s approval.
Separately, the State government has decided to procure 4,500 electric buses for the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation in collaboration with the Union government. Suresh said the buses would be introduced in phases. He said the electric buses were expected to help ease traffic congestion in Bengaluru.
The source material did not provide the projected procurement cost, delivery timetable or details of how the buses would be allocated. The committee’s imminent report is therefore expected to inform the government’s decision on fares, while the electric-bus plan represents a separate transport measure aimed at expanding public transport capacity in the city.
This independently written report is based on information supplied by the named publisher. Vertrix News has not independently verified the source report.