After six years, Puducherry government hikes bus fares

Puducherry government hikes bus fares by 10-30% for all stage carriers, following recommendations from MS DIMTS.

The Puducherry government has revised bus fares of town service buses, stage carriages, express stage carriages and night service buses with immediate effect. The hike ranges from 10% to 30% for all stage carriers. The fares were last revised in 2018.

The Pondicherry Bus (Stage Carriage) Owners had been urging the government to increase bus fares fixed in 2018 considering the rise in cost of fuel, lubricants, tyres and other market-related expenses and operational expenditure.

According to a senior Transport department official, “The government had adopted the fare revision mechanism suggested by MS DIMTS who had prepared the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) for Puducherry. The government had hiked the bus fares first in 2017 as suggested by DIMTS.”

“However, the decision was put on hold following strong protests from the public and political parties. Subsequently, the fares were hiked in 2018 and this was a sequel to the steep hike in bus fare effected in neighbouring Tamil Nadu,” he said.

For town buses plying within the limits of the Union Territory, the minimum rate not exceeding ₹7 has been fixed for the first stage (2 km) and for subsequent stages, ₹2 will be charged additionally.

For air-conditioned stage carriers plying within the U.T., the minimum rate for the first stage (2 km) has been revised to ₹13 from ₹10 while the maximum fare has been hiked from ₹26 to ₹34. For night buses plying between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m., the fare will be twice the day rate.

The minimum fare in Deluxe stage carriers (A/C) has been hiked from ₹12 to ₹16 while the maximum fare has been revised from ₹36 to ₹47. For Stage carriages other than Express stage carriages plying within the Union Territory, a fare not exceeding ₹10 would be charged for a distance of up to 10 km and 75 paise more for every additional kilometre.