The DoTM had proposed the government to increase fares by 9.23 percent on Jan 25 due to pressure from transport entrepreneurs. [break]
Transport entrepreneurs had long been pressing the government to revise fare, stating that fuel and non-fuel factors of cost in transportation have increased over the year.
The government had last revised transportation fare on March 26, 2009.
"We have directed the DoTM to do the needful in raising transport fare by 9 percent as per the criteria introduced under Scientific Fare Determination System," Deepak Subedi, joint secretary at the MoLTM, told Republica on Tuesday.
After receiving the ministry´s go-ahead, DoTM has started calculating new fare on different routes across the country.
Krishna Dawadi, acting director general of DoTM, said the department would soon publish fares for different routes in consultation with transport entrepreneurs.
The fresh revision means commuters will need to pay Rs 1.40 per km, up from existing Rs 1.29 per km.
“We will formally hike transport fare once new rates are determined at the local level,” Dawadi added.
An official at the MoLTM said hike in transport fare was determined taking into consideration the changes in transport cost factors over the year. Vehicle income tax and insurance cost has increased to Rs 1,500 and Rs 45,000 from Rs 1,300 and Rs 40,000 respectively over the year.
Similarly, maintenance cost went up by 3 percent, whereas bank interest rate and diesel price increased to 18 percent and Rs 68 per liter from 15 percent to Rs 61 per liter. Lubricants, tires and spare parts too have become dearer over the period, according to a ministry source.
Vehicle tax, however, has gone down to Rs 4,240 from Rs 5,640, while salary, administrative cost, house rent and other operating costs have remained unchanged over the period, the source added.
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