Odisha bus fare hike by 4-7 paise per Km

Bowing to a long-pending demand from private operators, Government of Odisha announced a hike in the bus fares by four to seven paise per km with effect from Sunday.

The decision comes days after the state bus owners association demanded a revision of the fares in view of the recent hike in diesel and petrol prices and threatened to go on strike if their demands were not met.

As per the new rates decided by the High Power Technical Committee of the State Government, fare in the Ordinary category has gone up from 55 paise to 59 paise per km while the Express category fare rose to 62 paise, up by four paise.

In the Deluxe category, the fare went up by 6 paise – from 76 paise to 82 paise per km, whereas the air-conditioned Deluxe slab saw the hike by 7 paise – from 93 paise to 1 rupee. Similarly, the minimum fare for the Ordinary category was also hiked from Rs 2 to 5. In the other three categories, the minimum fare remained unchanged – Rs 5 (Express), `13 (Deluxe and AC Deluxe).

AC night coaches between Bhubaneswar and Sambalpur became costlier by around Rs 20. The passenger fare was last revised in November last year. Around 18,000 buses ply in the state.

Private operators welcomed the hike but said the government should adopt an automatic mechanism to decide on fares instead of notifying changes from time to time.