Transport fares to go up by 5pc

KATHMANDU, JAN 24 -

Public transport fares are likely to go up within a week. Based on the recent fuel price hike, the government is preparing to jack up fares by 5 percent. The increase will be the second in three months.

Representatives of transport entrepreneurs and the Department of Transport Management met on Sunday and agreed to the 5 percent increase. According to transporters, the lowest fare of Rs 13 for a distance of up to 4 km will go up to Rs 14.

Prem Kumar Singh, director at the department, said that they would send their recommendation for a hike in fares to the Ministry of Labour and Transport Management for its approval on Wednesday. “The review is based on the increased price of the fuel component only,” he said.

The new fares will be implemented for all public vehicles including buses, minibuses, microbuses, taxis and three-wheelers. Transporters had started putting pressure on the government to increase transport fares immediately after Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) ramped up gasoline prices on Jan 18.

Yogendra Karmacharya, president of the National Federation of Nepalese Transport Entrepreneurs, said that the new fares would come into effect within a week after the necessary procedures of the government are completed.

“Fares are being raised because fuel prices have gone up by more than Rs 5 per litre,” he added. As per the agreement reached between transporters and the government two year ago, transport fares can be revised if fuel prices go up by more than Rs 5 per litre.

Last Wednesday, state-owned oil monopoly NOC increased the price of diesel by Rs 9 to Rs 85 per litre and petrol by Rs 10 to Rs 115 per litre. Domestic airlines have already increased the fuel surcharge by Rs 55 to Rs 190 depending on the destination.

The government had last increased transport fares by 9.9 percent on Nov 2, 2011 due to repeated fuel price hikes and pressure from transport entrepreneurs.

Source: Kantipur