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The Punjab government hiked the bus fare by nearly 20 per cent with effect from today in the wake of increase in diesel prices.
With today’s increase, the bus fare in the State went up from 66 paise a km to 79 paise a km.
“The bus fare has been hiked by 13 paise a km and the new rate has been made effective from today,” an official of the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) said here.
The increase would help bus operators in cutting down operational losses, he said.
The new fare, hiked after a gap of nearly two years, would be applicable to state-owned and private buses, the official said.
State-owned Punjab Roadways and PRTC have a fleet of around 3,000 buses while private operators run nearly 3,800 buses across the state.
Private and state-owned operators have been demanding hike in bus fare after the Centre raised the diesel price by Rs 5 per litre last month.
Private bus operators had sought a hike of 15 paise a km and PRTC and Punjab Roadways 22 paise a km.
Transporters had claimed that increase in diesel rate would put an additional burden of Rs 1.80 lakh a bus a year.
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