Chandigarh
Passengers travelling in the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) buses will have to shell out more now as UT administrator VP Singh Badnore on Wednesday approved an increase in bus fares for both AC and non-AC buses running on local and long routes.
Transport secretary AK Singla said the increase in bus fares was aimed at neutralising the impact of imposition of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on tickets. GST was imposed on bus fares in 2016. While Punjab and Haryana were already charging GST on their bus fares, CTU was yet to impose it.
So it will now have to pay GST arrears for the last two years.
The fares of CTU non-AC local buses are divided into three slabs on kilometre basis. The charge is ₹5 for the first five kilometres, ₹10 for five to 10 kilometres and ₹15 for 10km and above.
While the first slab has been kept the same, rates of the second and third slabs have been increased by ₹5 each.
Similarly in local AC buses, the first slab of ₹10 has been kept the same. But in the second slab, the fare has been increased from ₹15 to ₹20; and for third slab from ₹20 to ₹25. The increase in bus fares has come after around two years. The charges for the daily and monthly passes have also been increased by over 50%.
