Bhubaneswar, Aug. 1: The state government today slashed bus fares by 2 to 4 paise per kilometre following reduction in the diesel price last night.

While the fares for ordinary and express buses have been reduced by 2 paise per kilometre, those for deluxe and air-conditioned deluxe buses have been slashed by 4 paise per kilometre.

Following the revision, the ordinary bus fare came down to 56 paise per kilometre, while for the express buses, it became 59 paise per kilometre. Besides, the new fares for deluxe and air-conditioned buses are 76 paise and 97 paise per kilometre, respectively following the reduction.

Additional commissioner (technical) of the state transport department Sameer Panigrahi said: "The fare reduction was made on the basis of the automatic fare revision formula, adopted by the state government following demands from the bus operators of the state.

The bus fares were reduced as the diesel rate had gone down by a considerable margin. The fare would be implemented immediately from today.

This is the third time in the past one month and four times in the past two months that bus fares were reduced due to diesel price cut. The fares were revised on July 16, July 2 and June 18. But, the reduction was between 1 paisa and 2 paise.

The diesel price was cut by a big margin of Rs 3.87 per litre on Friday night, bringing the fuel rate below Rs 50 for the first time in the past 33 months.

The revised diesel price in the state is Rs 49.05 per litre now.

In October 2012, the diesel price was Rs 49.9 per litre.

The private bus owners welcomed the fare reduction, saying it would help the passengers. "It was done according to the automatic fare revision formula. Once the diesel price falls, passengers must be provided with a fare cut," said All Odisha Private Bus Owners' Association general secretary Debendra Sahu.

A bus operator said that, along with the diesel price, if other inputs associated with the transport sector were reduced, the bus fare would go down by several notches and travel would be more economical.

In another development, passengers welcomed the bus fare revision, but complained that the fare reduction could have been more, compared to the steep fall in diesel price.

"The diesel price has gone done to Rs 50 per litre, and we are still paying bus fare at a much higher rate," said Sudhir Mohanty, a daily passenger.