The tourist bus and car operators have proposed fuel charges. This would ideally mean that the fares of travel could vary on a day-to-day basis depending on the increase in fuel. This was decided among various associations, yesterday in a meeting. The government too will be approached for their approval.
Over the past few days, fuel prices have spiked which has led to this decision from the bus association. “We have decided that we will approach the government to allow us to charge fuel charges. It will be something where every Re increase per kilometre will be calculated against the kilometre run by the bus operator or car. We will approach the government for the same,” said Harsh Kotak, a member of Mumbai Bus Malak Sanghatana.
This decision was mooted after they found that in the past few days the people would prefer their own vehicles rather than private buses and cars. Moreover, in this long weekend, they only got bookings of 60-65 percent unlike their expectations of crossing 90 percent. The primary reason for the weak demand is the fluctuating and rising fuel prices that everyone experienced in the last few days. The tariffs for intercity buses went up by at least 20-22 percent for all routes, while the per kilometer rate for AC cars is varying from Rs 15-18 per kilometer depending on the type and model of car; which again has increased. So if ticket price for the Mumbai-Pune AC bus was Rs 350-400, it has increased by Rs 75-100 or so.
“We are contemplating fuel charges that will be added to the rates. There is traffic on the road of tourists leaving the city but it is namely the private cars. Due to the hike in petrol and diesel prices, our cost of operations has gone up and so we were forced to increase the tariffs as well,” said Malik Patel, Secretary of the Federation of Tourist Taxi Operators.
There are 15,000 odd tourist cabs and 3,500 intercity buses that are plying of which still 35-40 percent weren’t booked for this long weekend. The cost of fuel --- petrol, diesel and CNG --- has seen a drastic and continuous hike over the past few days. The bus operators claim that it’s not just the fuel price which has increased but other ancillaries as well. The prices of oil, tyres and manpower have risen upwards apart from fuel cost. Fuel cost is 60 percent of our operational costs.
Prices of petrol and diesel remained steady for the seventh day in a row on April 13. Since March 22, rates of petrol and diesel have increased Rs 10 per litre each via 14 revisions. In Mumbai, petrol and diesel prices per litre are at Rs 120.51 and Rs 104.77 respectively.
