Commuters at a city bus terminal near the railway station. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 1: City bus and autorickshaw operators are yet to bring down fares though both diesel and petrol prices have been slashed.

While diesel price came down from Rs 63.50 to Rs 56.49 per litre on August 31, petrol price fell from Rs 68.24 to Rs 63.65 on October 1.

Commuters said the fares, demanded by the autorickshaw drivers, were irrational since the minimum fare for a distance of half a kilometre was Rs 5.

“They charge Rs 5 even if one travels from CBI Square to CRP Square — which is barely half a kilometre. You go a little further and they demand Rs 10,” said Manas Patnaik, a commuter.

Padman Kumar Samal, general secretary of the Bhubaneswar Auto Drivers’ Association told The Telegraph: “Had the government implemented a standardised rate chart for autorickshaws in the city, these confusions could have been avoided. Moreover, the state government has started prepaid autorickshaw counters at three locations in Cuttack. However, the capital city is yet to get such counters.”

He, however, admitted that many drivers were making irrational demands from the passengers and the association did not support their actions. “Once the police provide us with the rate chart, we can implement it,” he said.

A senior police official said the housing and urban development department was yet to provide a rate chart for the prepaid auto service at the airport, railway station and Baramunda bus terminal.

“Once the rate chart is available, we can start the prepaid counters here in Bhubaneswar,” he said.

As far as the city buses are concerned, the new fare came into effect on September 26 when the diesel price was Rs 63.50 per litre. According to the automatic fare revision formula based on which the rate was increased, the revision is applicable in case the diesel price falls or rises by 5 per cent. However, even after the price had dropped by Rs 7 per litre in August, the city bus operators are yet to revise fares.

“The diesel price has gone down, but the city bus operators are not revising the fares. It is causing a lot of difficulty for the passengers,” said Mrutyunjay Tripathy, a commuter.

Sudhanshu Jene, chief operating officer of the Dream Team Shahara, told The Telegraph: “We are planning to reduce the burden of the passengers shortly and we may also introduce smart cards for the daily passengers.”