A commute aboard the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) buses got dearer by up to ₹ 5 with the transport juggernaut introducing a diesel cess.
Sources at the TSRTC said that with the price of diesel now at ₹105.47, the move to introduce this diesel cess comes after much deliberation. The sources pointed out that with the TSRTC suffering losses to the tune of ₹7 crore per day, primarily on account of the diesel prices, the management was forced to take this decision.
According to the TSRTC management, a diesel cess of ₹2 per passenger would be levied on Pallevelugu and City Ordinary buses. For services such as Express, Deluxe, Super Luxury, and Metro Express, a diesel cess of ₹5 would be levied.
Given the issue of shortage of change, the ticket fare would be rounded off to a multiple of ₹5.
TSTRC Managing Director V C Sajjanar and Chairman Bajireddy Goverdhan pointed said that this was a difficult time for the transport juggernaut. They request members of the public to support the TSRTC.
Mr Sajjanar said that the minimum fare of ₹10 in the case of Palluvelugu and City Ordinary buses has not been revised so as not to add to the burdens of passengers who travel short distances.
Recently, the TSRTC had introduced a safety cess of Re 1. While officials maintained that the introduction of this cess should not be misconstrued as a hike in fare as there was no increase in basic fare, more of than not, the Re 1 cess led to the rounding off of ticket fare to the nearest multiple of ₹5, usually one which was higher. In a similar move, a toll plaza user charge revision was also done in March.
Those using bus passes too had to shell out more. The ₹ 950 charge for City Ordinary buses was enhanced to ₹ 1,150. Those travelling in metro express buses had to pay ₹1,300 instead of ₹1,070. A similar bus pass price increase was across other TSRTC’s bus services.
