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Proposal to increase fares
Written By ss87 - 31 March, 2010
Bangalore BMTC Bus fuel Media Reports fares fare hike
Following the recent increase in fuel prices,BMTC is planning to increase the fares.The same was published in the bangalore mirror newspaper of yesterday. Owing to BBMP elections and results the bus fares will be mostly increased once the poll results come out.
In the traffic affected bangalore city the only mode of PT available is BMTC. BMTC has just started propoganding its services and conducting events like bus days. But if fares are increased at present the people travelling by buses will definitely reduce.
C&AG in its recently conducted audit has revealed that operational costs are quite high which have resulted in loss of revenue to BMTC though slight margin in revenue was revealed. Instead of increasing fares it would be better if they can analyse the reasons for high costs and cut down the same successfully.
If BMTC and other authorities seriously plan to decongest th city then this fare increase must not be accepted. Proper rationalization,allocation and running of buses will help in reduce the costs to some extent. The reasons for high increase in costs have already been discussed in our forum under the C&AG audit blog.
At this juncture,BMTC must realise that not mere increase of fares but increasing the people commuting by bus will only help them reduce the losses. BMTC being the only PT available in Bangalore at present they surely can plan well to attract more users.
COMMENTS
ss87 - 26 June, 2010 - 08:18
Now the fares have been increased - BMTC by 8.5% and KSRTC by 3.5%. Very bad move by the transport minister. Diesel fares have gone up by Rs.2/- only but BMTC cites that they havent increased fares the previous time.
Consdiering thet the total diesel price went up by Rs. 5/- totally it is unfair that the rate has gone up Rs.1/- in certain stages and Rs.2/- in certain stages. Considering a bus consumes 50ltrs a day the expense will increase by Rs.50/- per day. now do only 50 passengers travel by the bus. There will be atleast about 400 people who will travel by the bus-now isnt it a unnecessary increase. for that if BMTC takes step to attract another 50 people to the bus it will easily make a break even. Proper rationalization of routes especially the volvo routes will help BMTC recover the loss.
If possible we have to look into the Cost sheet followed by BMTC and see the reason for increase in fares. We cannot be over burdened by the continous increase in fares. One main advantage of travelling by bus is to not bother about fuel hikes but if BMTC keeps hiking the fares like this then it is better to use own mode of transport.
In next meet with BMTC this is one major issue that we need to discuss with BMTC. BMTC services are improving but people will restore to them only if they find some kind of savings. BMTC must cater to needs of commuters and can get commuters only on lesser fares
ss87 - 28 June, 2010 - 16:19
Yes-a suburban train can actually start in the evening hours-when a train can run on single track and get good crowd why not between SBC-TK also-bus charges around Rs.45/- whereas train can take you in about Rs.25/- or so-so it will be very useful. And once such things develop only we can get BMTC back to its place-It has just gotten on quite high
CommuterRail way to go on this
Sanjeev - 26 June, 2010 - 10:46
As you can see, BMTC is under the State support so will keep increasing price whenever fuel prices goes up & Railway is under Center and has not increased the fares over the 6-8 years.
Now by complete dependence on BMTC as only PT will have serious impact on the road traffic when were fares are revised. So other mode of Transport Commuter Rail / Local Trains are deployed and fares are quite lower then the BMTC, things will be better with combination of BMTC, Commuter Rail & METRO.
Other cities Delhi, Mumbi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkotta, Pune do not feel the pinch as they have Local Train services by Indian Railways.
Then BMTC will have completions from Commuter Rail, METRO & will have effect on operation improvement.
Commuter Rail , BMTC & Namma METRO way to go for Bangalore.PT.
ss87 - 27 June, 2010 - 11:13
No-when BJP govt criticizes congress govt for each and every rise in prices they must see to it that they do not burden the people-they must provide a cushion to see that bus passengers do not get affected each time there is a fuel price increase.
Now seriously I think we praja members can raise a point at the next BMTC meeting-BMTC doesnt seem to understand that increasing fares will result in more pass holders travelling and more and more resales of daily passes which will contribute to more and more losses. Also many people will opt to travel by auto for short distances rather than by bus as it will be more convinient and cheaper too.
Increasing selling price is not the only way-decreasing costs is also a way of increasing profits is the theory of costing- dont know whether they really follow the same. Apart from that we have also seen that BMTC operates to just 63% capacity on an average-passenger capacity can increase only if the rates are lesser. Its ok if buses get a bit more crowded if teh roads are decongested a bit it is more helpful and automatically lead to more profits. Hope we can feed these things into BMTC's head.
idontspam - 27 June, 2010 - 18:15
for short distances people will find auto viable-from jayanagar to j.p.nagar in group of 3 bus costs Rs.24/- and auto costs around the same
My point was purely practical not related to the costs at all. Try gathering 3 people impromptu and find an auto to take you to where YOU want to go.
people do not use buses or they do not bother the fare hike?
Personally for me its the latter. One we have lived in subsidy la la land for too long. Two we need to listen to what Sanjeev is saying, train is the way to go. Lend your support to commuter rail.
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