Private buses in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 29: After much dillydallying, the state government today finally reduced the private bus fares, but it has failed to satisfy the commuters.

According to the recommendation of the technical committee of the state transport authority, the fare for ordinary and express buses have been slashed by one paise per kilometer, those for deluxe and AC deluxe have been cut by two paise per kilometer.

The committee comprised financial advisors of state government, officials of Odisha State Road Transport Corporation and state transport authority and secretary of All-Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association.

After the price of diesel came down to Rs 59.87 from Rs 63.50, the BJP and several other political parties had sought reduction of bus fares.

On August 19, the bus fares were revised by five and eight paise per kilometer following threats of a statewide protest by bus owners. The fares for ordinary and express buses was increased by five paise, while that of deluxe and AC deluxe buses were increased by 7 paise and 8 paise per kilometer.

Transport minister Rame-sh Chandra Majhi said that the notification was issued based on technical committee report. “The new fares will come into effect from today,” said Majhi.

However, the commuters are not happy with the revision. Since the price of diesel went down by Rs 3.63 per litre, they were expecting a higher cut in fares.

“This fare revision will not help us. Rather the bus owners will be benefited from it as they will be able to earn huge profits,” said Sudarshan Senapati, a commuter.

Moreover, the reduction is not applicable to shorter routes and the cut is minimal for long routes, say passengers.

“The government should have thought about the common people and reduce the fare a little more,” said Artatrana Rath, another passenger.

The bus operators, however, said the decision was taken by the technical committee, which took several things into consideration before taking the final call.

The All Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association has welcomed the decision. “We are happy with the fare cut. However, it will be better if the government initiates the automatic fare revision formula. This will help us and passengers will also not complain about it,” said the association’s spokesman Debasis Nayak.

Transport minister said the government was taking this demand of the bus owners into consideration. “We are looking into different aspects of the proposal. A decision will be taken shortly,” said the minister.