In a bid to increase patronage, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has reduced bus fares by 30% in services operated by Volvo, Scania, and multi-axle buses within the State from Friday.
It has also decided to reduce fares of air-conditioned low-floor JnNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) buses by slashing the fares hiked during the COVID-19-induced lockdown. While the minimum charge for 5 km has been retained at ₹26, the fare for subsequent km has been reduced from 187 to 126 paise.
Temporary basis
Chairman and Managing Director Biju Prabhakar said the reduction in fares was on a temporary basis and the 30% fare reduction was available in the inter-State services operated by Volvo, Scania, and multi-axle buses.
Every hour, the KSRTC is operating low-floor air-conditioned buses from Thiruvananthapuram via Alappuzha and Ernakulam to Kozhikode. Low-floor air-conditioned services are also operated via Kottayam to Kozhikode every hour from Thiruvananthapuram and reduction in fares would be applicable for these services, he added.
In December, the KSRTC had done away with the cess on tickets collected from commuters for ordinary buses for six months.
Those commuting in ordinary buses up to 47.5 km and paying fares up to ₹49 do not have to pay the cess and this resulted in the bus fare going down by ₹1 to ₹2. With the new decision, the ₹1 cess collected on tickets from ₹15 to ₹24 and the ₹2 cess collected for tickets from ₹25 to ₹49 have been avoided.
