Bhubaneswar: The state government on Saturday increased fares for all categories of passenger buses in the wake of hike in diesel price.

But, the fares of town bus services managed by the state government remain unchanged. The fare for ordinary and express buses has been increased by 2 paise per kilometre, while that for deluxe and AC deluxe category buses has been increased by 4 paise per kilometre.

The fare for ordinary buses will now be 72 paise per km as against 70 paise per km earlier, while that of express buses is increased to 75 paise from 73 paise per km. Similarly, deluxe category buses will now charge Rs 1.05 paise per km as against Rs 1.01 earlier, while commuters travelling in AC deluxe buses have to pay Rs 1.23 instead of Rs 1.23 per km. The last fare revision was done on May 28.

"Diesel prices have increased by Rs 4.55 from Rs 74.19 (on May 28) to Rs 78.74 (on September 15). So, the bus fares were revised. However, the fare of town buses has not been revised," said a transport official. Passengers said the hike in bus fare would affect commuters.

Private Bus Owners' Association general secretary Debendra Sahu said bus fare had been revised according to the automatic fare revision mechanism. "Under the mechanism bus fares are increased by 1 paise for every Rs 2 hike on fuel prices. We have been waiting for the fuel price to come down, but it did not happen. We request both the state government and the Centre to reduce excise tax and VAT on diesel to bring down its price," said Sahoo.