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Andhra raises fare of state-run APSRTC buses
According to a notification from the APSRTC, the bus fares have gone up by a minimum of ₹5 to a maximum of ₹140 depending on the distance, type of the bus service and facilities extended to the passengers
The Andhra Pradesh government increased the fares of state-run AP State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) buses in the name of additional diesel cess, starting Friday, evoking strong protests from the opposition parties.
According to a notification from the APSRTC, the bus fares have gone up by a minimum of ₹5 to a maximum of ₹140 depending on the distance, type of the bus service and facilities extended to the passengers.
However, the bus fares remain unchanged for the first 30 km. According to the government notification, there is no increase in the fares in bus services within the cities like Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.
For rural bus services named Palle Velugu, the bus fares have gone up from a minimum of ₹5 to a maximum of ₹25. For Express bus services, the fares have gone up from a minimum of ₹5 to a maximum of ₹90 for travel beyond 500 km.
In Ultra Deluxe bus services, the fare hike would range from ₹5 to the maximum of ₹120. For Super Luxury buses, the increase in fare ranges from ₹10 to ₹120. In all the Air-Conditioned services, the hike would be a minimum of ₹10 to a maximum of ₹140, the notification stated.
There are a total of 11,678 state transport department buses in Andhra Pradesh, and 2.4 million passengers travelling on a daily average. The average diesel price in Andhra Pradesh is ₹99.22 as of July 1.
An APSRTC official said the bus fares had to be increased per the agreement with Telangana. According to this inter-state agreement, there should be parity in bus fares between the two states.
On June 9, the Telangana RTC increased the bus fares in the name of diesel cess. This resulted in higher fares for buses being run by the TSRTC to Andhra Pradesh. On the other hand, the APSRTC bus fares were comparatively lesser.
As a result, the passengers travelling from Telangana to Andhra preferred to travel only in APSRTC buses, leaving the Telangana buses unoccupied. This resulted in TSRTC incurring losses instead of additional income due to increased cess, while APSRTC is making more revenue from increased occupancy.
Realising the situation, the TSRTC authorities had written to the APSRTC authorities to increase their bus fares. Though the APSRTC initially rejected the Telangana proposal, it later agreed to increase the bus fares by imposing additional diesel cess.
The fare hike attracted sharp criticism from the opposition, with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) general secretary Nara Lokesh lashing out at the Jagan government for burdening the common man.
“It was only in April this year that the APSRTC increased bus fares substantially. Now, the government has gone in for a further hike. There is no limit to this government fleecing the common man,” he criticised.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Lanka Dinakar said the common person was scared of travelling by RTC buses because of the steep hike in bus fares. “While the Centre has reduced tax and cess on diesel and petrol twice in the last six months, the Jagan government has increased the diesel cess on RTC buses twice. There is no logic in this,” he said.
CPI (M) state secretary V Srinivasa Rao also found fault with the state government for burdening the common man by increasing power tariffs and now RTC bus fares. “It clearly shows the chaotic administration of the Jagan government,” he said.
