Bhubaneswar, Nov. 24: Private bus fares were increased today for the first time since June when the state government had introduced automatic fare revision.

The bus fares were reduced five times since the automatic fare revision. Today's fare hike follows increase in diesel prices by 87 paise per litre. However, the fare hike will not have any impact on the state-wide strike of the Private Bus Owners' Association scheduled on December 1.

According to the notification of the state transport department, bus fares were hiked by one paise for ordinary and express buses, while fares were increased by 2 paise per kilometre for the deluxe and air-conditioned deluxe ones.

The fare for ordinary buses has been increased to 56 paise from 55 paise per kilometre, while that for the express bus was increased to 59 paise from 58 paise per kilometre. Similarly, for the deluxe buses, passengers will have to pay 76 paise instead of the existing fare of 74 paise per kilometre. The fare for the air-conditioned deluxe buses increased to 97 paise from 95 paise per kilometre.

However, the fare revision failed to the private bus operators' decision to go on a strike. "The fares have been slashed five times since the automatic fare revision was introduced in June as diesel prices were reduced during this period. But for the first time, the fare was hiked under automatic fare revision system. However, the price hike would not impact our decision to go on a strike from December 1," said association's general secretary Debendra Sahu.

The private bus operators' body has decided to resort to strike opposing the state government's decision to hike the motor vehicle tax. The government proposes to bring about an amendment to increase the motor vehicles tax in the upcoming winter session of the Assembly.

The association is also opposing plying of buses under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission outside cities. "The plying of such busses outside the cities will have a direct impact on the private buses and we will incur heavy loss," said an association member.

At present, buses under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission are plying in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Puri. All over the state more than 15,000 private buses are plying.