The bad news is bus fares will go up even more from July 15. The good news is there won’t be a bus strike on July 10.

The minimum fare stays at Rs 4 for the first four kilometres. A hike of 50 paise to Re 1 for subsequent stages, however, ensures that passengers are deprived of the relief of unaltered fares for the first seven kilometres in the rates sanctioned by the transport department on June 30.

“We have tried to accommodate the bus owners’ demands and not inconvenience the people too much… There should not be a problem for quite some time now,” said transport minister Subhas Chakraborty at Writers’ Buildings on Tuesday afternoon.

The department’s conciliatory move came a day after 17 unions of bus owners threatened to take 24,000 buses off the road on July 10.

“Though our demands have not been fully met, we have decided to accept the revision and call off the strike,” Bengal Bus Syndicate president Swarnakamal Saha told Metro.

The new fares for buses will come into effect on July 15, instead of July 11, as declared earlier. For minibuses and taxis, the revised fares will be effective from July 11.

The fare is Rs 6 for four to 12 km, Rs 7 for 12 to 20 km and Rs 8 for 20 to 24 km. The fare will go up by 50 paise for every four-km stage after 24 km.

“The move to eliminate the eight to 12 km and the 16 to 20 km stages is not welcome. But the transport department has left us few options, so we have to accept it for now. But one cannot rule out the possibility of resentment among sizeable sections of our industry,” said Saha.

“We did not want a hike because it would substantially cut down the passenger volume. But since the increase became inevitable, we wanted a fare structure that suited our needs,” said the general secretary of the Joint Council of Bus Syndicates, Sadhan Das.